


Bitter Cold

by CynicalBonehead



Category: Guardians of Childhood - William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blood and Injury, Character death- Nightlight, Dark Jack Frost (Guardians of Childhood), Jack Frost is Nightlight (Guardians of Childhood), Jack betrays the guardians, Sort Of, Stabbing, Tagging stuff is hard, he isnt ever corrupted, it'll be clearer as the story goes on, sort of the book and the movie mushed together, tags will be added as i go along
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:53:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26982448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CynicalBonehead/pseuds/CynicalBonehead
Summary: We all know the story of Jack Frost, but what if it went a little differently?A boy from the lake with no memories but just a name. He had a past that someone knowingly withheld from him and that does something to you. After hundreds of years of silence, the coldness in his heart only grew more and more harsh.Jack Frost takes a divergent path from his 'destiny' with some familiar faces, on the opposite side.Can Jack's heart be melted and see past his hatred, or will he be consumed by the darkness he finds himself surrounded by?Or perhaps.. he'll carve out his own fate.
Comments: 33
Kudos: 56





	1. Prologue: The Hanged Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE HANGED MAN--Wisdom, trials, sacrifice, intuition, Reversed: Selfishness, the crowd, body politic

Inhuman screeches and shouts filled the battlefield as a war between darkness and light reached it's peak. One Boy stood in the middle of it all. He was not human, yet he was not ethereal anymore. He was called Nightlight, a boy from a star itself. He was born to protect an important child and grew to ensure the protection of children everywhere. However he no longer had the glow of an illuminating warrior that he started out with. Nightlight had regular skin like his beloved Katherine, whom he gave up all his light to save from his mortal enemy. Her hand was entwined intimately with his own. She could not see it, but she had her own sort of glow after everything. Nightlight wanted to hold it close and never let anything happen to it for as long as he breathed. All she had to do was look into his eyes, and she could read him like a book. He was scared. Nightlight was scared of his friends dying out there to keep him away from The Nightmare King, Pitch Black. Sure he was fighting too, but not knowing made his throat hurt. He didn't want to admit he was scared, but he didn't need him to say a word.

"They'll be okay." She whispered, cupping his face with her free hand.

Nightlight leaned into it, "I don't know that for sure... " He was startled to feel a tear fall from his face and onto her hand.

Had he ever been able to cry? He couldn't remember at that point.. Nightlight scooped the tear from Katherine's hand and froze it into an impressive dagger. Katherine's eyes widened but then she sort of looked at him funny.

"Another dagger..? Nightlight you already have one." Katherine said, puzzled.

Nightlight shook his head and pointed the hilt at her, "For you. You need a weapon out here... I feel safer knowing you have something that can hurt the Nightmare Men and fearlings.. B-Besides.." Nightlight felt his face grow hot and he evaded her eyesight. "It's. Sort of intimate I guess...? For you to have a dagger directly from me..? That sounds silly.. Is this not how it works for humans..? Oh dear-" Nightlight muttered nervously.

Katherine's face too began to flush and she laughed. "I'd be honored." She accepted the newly made dagger and held Nightlight closely. "As for your other tears, let them flow Nightlight. It's okay to be scared right now.. Pitch thought he could sneak attack the North Pole so easily.. If it wasn't for Ombric looking through time for possibilities of this.. Well. Who knows what would have happened."

Nightlight made a displeased noise, "I don't want to think about that! I. I just." Nightlight backed away from her embrace and looked out towards the mountains. "I want to fight. I want to protect the people I love i-in any way possible.. is that foolish?" He asked turning back to her.

Katherine shook her head no, "Then is this dagger your way of always protecting me?"

Nightlight swore he felt like all the blood in his body rush to his face, "I-Well-Yes," Nightlight walked back over and held her hand closely, "My powers have not been the same since I woke you from your nightmare coma years ago.. I worry that they'll fade completely and I will be useless. With that, there will at least be part of me always being with you."

"You won't fade away.. I'll make sure of that.." Katherine said, brushing his tears with her finger.

They felt their faces getting closer and closer. Nearly about to kiss until they heard a familiar voice drewnear.

"O-Oh dear. Is this really the time and place for that?!" Tooth said as she landed right by them rather clumsily.

"Ah!" Katherine moved away from Nightlight and ran towards Tooth, "Tooth!! Your wing!! Are you okay?!"

One of Tooth's wings was badly bleeding, she seemed to try to hide the pain but it was written all over her face. Just like Nightlight's fear, she too was scared. She tried to put on a brave face, but Nightlight's shrank with the realization of the situation.

"I got away..it's fine.. They're dwindling in numbers but I don't know how long we can keep going. Pitch is almost feral at this point.. Everyone is holding up alright but..." her voice trailed off, realizing she was making them more scared.

Nightlight stood up and looked towards the sky. The sun was halfway done with it's journey above them, which worried him.

"If this continues until nightfall... Pitch will be more powerful than ever." Tooth staggered onto her feet with the help of Katherine, "Nightlight.. I don't know if we can defeat him before then."

There was that sudden sensation in his chest again. The tightness of his lungs and the numbness of his hands. If he didn't act soon, all his friends would die. He looked towards Tooth's bloodied wing and then at Katherine. She started back at him with much concern in her eyes, for she knew what he was thinking. Katherine always did. Their eyes had a conversation all on their own, begging each other to understand their thoughts. Why they might do what they were about to do. Katherine's eyes watered and it stung Nightlight's heart. They all heard the loud roars of the yeti war cries but some voices were silenced. Nightlight bit his lip, fighting every muscle in his body to not go. Tooth raised her head, sensing the emotional war Nightlight was fighting. She had no wise advice to give him. Everyone wanted Nightlight to stay safe, so why would she invite the idea of him going out there? Because Tooth knew what he would do. Katherine didn't think of it at the time however. Katherine smiled at Nightlight, her eyes watering, and walked towards him.

She took his hands and looked deep into his brilliant green eyes. "I'll help Tooth. Nightlight please don't- Just-" She took a deep shaking breath before trying to find her words, "Come back to me. Okay?"

Nightlight leaned in, giving her a kiss that felt just as emotional as the Good Night's Kiss. The one that had him give up everything that made him a Nightlight, just to save her. Even if he did not glow anymore, in that moment he felt like him and Katherine lit up the snow. Tooth looked away to give them some semblance of privacy. He broke the kiss and held his own dagger tightly.

He exchanged a look with Tooth before speaking. "I love you. I love all of you.. That's why I have to do this. I have to fight him." Nightlight let go of Katherine and pointed his staff towards the sky, "I'll redirect his attention towards me. That way his forces won't have him as an advantage."

Katherine's expression changed drastically, "But-Nightlight! Your powers-"

Nightlight smiled sadly at her, "I know."

Tooth put her hand on Katherine's shoulder and smiled sadly at Nightlight, "You get out of there if it comes down to it..You hear me..?"

Nightlight didn't give her an answer. He mouthed 'I love you' one more time before begging the wind to carry him onward.

The wind obliged and lifted Nightlight instantly off the snowy ground. Katherine whimpered and reached out for Nightlight as he ascended. All Tooth could do was hold her back and pray to the moon that Nightlight would have heeded her words. Katherine gripped the dagger he gave her and lowered her head. North, who was trying to heal some of his comrade yetis, saw Nightlight flying overhead and nearly dropped his sword.

"WHAT IS HE DOING?! NIGHTLIGHT FRIEND!! GO BACK!!!"

Nightlight looked down with a somber smile at North and flew further. Bunnymund sliced and dove through multiple nightmare men and let out a victorious laugh. His warrior eggs ran through Pitch's forces like tanks, despite all the cracks in their stones. Bunnymund was licking his wounds when he too saw Nightlight flying over him. His adrenaline turned into horror seeing his friend fly directly to the front lines.

"MATE WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! DON'T-" Bunnymund stopped himself. His fists shook and he prepared his weapons once more. "Don't let those fearlings take flight!!! Nightlight has to go forth unharmed!!" Bunnymund commanded his warrior eggs with a roaring war call of the Pookah.

Sandman was the last one to see Nightlight. He was directly fighting Pitch himself, both evenly matched throwing each other around with dreamsand and nightmare essence. Sandy's dreamsand could only hold off Pitch for so long, as Pitch kept slicing through it with his scythe.

"Is that the best you got old friend?! It look like you've ran out of ideas..and I've ran out of patience." Pitch readied and arrow towards the weary Sandman, "Perhaps turning you into my very own fearling will draw that bastard out.."

Sandy braced himself, conjuring up whips of dreamsand to counter his attack. He'd rather die than be a pawn of Pitch and he was going to make sure Pitch knew that too. Just as Pitch was about to fire the arrow, a snowball hit the back of his head so hard it stung and nearly knocked him over. The arrow fell out of his hands and fell apart in the snow. Sandy was about to laugh, until he saw it was no winter nymph. It was the guardian Pitch was hunting after. He tried to signal Nightlight to get out of there but Nightlight didn't budge. Pitch slowly rose to his feet and turned towards the direction the snowball came from. The smile that stretched upon his face could have given the Cheshire cat a run for his money.

"THERE you are..." Pitch grabbed a whip from Sandy that was heading right for him, and flung Sandy into a snowbank. "YOU AREN'T GETTING AWAY FROM ME!! NONE OF YOU TOUCH THE BOY!! HE IS _MINE_!!"

Nightlight instantly started running once he heard Pitch roar with such intensity. The wind aided him once again to briefly lift him out of the mountains. Pitch pursued with intense determination, ready to kill the one being who forever ruined things for him. Nightlight dropped harshly onto the snow in the nearby woods and kept running as fast he could. He almost shrieked as he dodged an arrow coming from Pitch. He was hot on Nightlight's trail and didn't seem like he was going to let up. It was exactly what Nightlight wanted..Nightlight came to a frozen pond and tried to catch his breath but Pitch struck Nightlight in the dead center of his back and he dropped to the ground. Pitch laughed watching his long time rival wheeze at his feet then kicked Nightlight across the iced pond with a smirk of satisfaction.

"Snowballs and fancy air tricks won't save you little man... Have you lost your touch? mmhahahaahahaha!!!! Oh how weak you've gotten!" Pitch lunged his sword's blade towards Nightlight.

Nightlight had enough time to grab his staff and block the attack and strike Pitch in the shoulder. The maneuver had it's own setback however. Pitch had enough room to slice Nightlight's arm before stumbling onto one of his legs. Nightlight gazed at his arm and saw his own blood for the first time in his life. His eyes were as wide as dinner plates and Pitch laughed at the sight before him.

"Aw...a warrior's first sight of blood.. Granted you probably bled stardust beforehand... but now..." Pitch admired the blood that rested on the tip of his sword, "Don't worry. I'll only get as much as I can all over the place. It will be a sight for your friends to see!!"

Nightlight was knocked back by another blow by Pitch and staggered onto his feet. He quickly glanced at the sky and realized that perhaps fighting at Night would give himself an edge as well. The full moon was going to occur that night, and Man In The Moon could give Nightlight some kind of form of assistance if he could see him.

"I'll keep on fighting..til every ounce of breath is out of my body!!" Nightlight roared, stomping his staff on the ice. The gleam of Nightlight's dagger caught Pitch's eye and he took one small step back. The blade was...reacting to him..?

"Recognize it Pitch? I can make blades of out people's tears.. _including your own._ "

Pitch's face twisted into a snarl, "You never have seen ME cry how is that possible??!!"  
  
"When I was trapped inside your heart ages ago." Nightlight smirked.

His fury peaked and Pitch charged at Nightlight once more. Nightlight decided to take the risky gamble of fighting Pitch off long enough, until the moon could rise. Both him and Pitch would be at full power. Well. Whatever power Nightlight had left that was. He prayed to the moon that his friends could hold off for just a bit longer.

  
Tooth managed to get herself back onto the battlefield, North tending to her wounds. Katherine was on standby with a few yetis to keep watch.

"Why didn't you stop him Tooth?! He could die fighting Pitch!!"

Tooth sighed, "North. If I could have gone with I would have. Besides. He flew off promising he wouldn't be reckless...though I have a feeling that was a lie."

North finished wrapping up her wing and glanced at the sky, "The sun is almost set..."  
  
His hand rested on his golden sword, a relic from The Man In The Moon himself. It glistened in anticipation to be used in battle, North obliged. He unsheathed it and looked back at Tooth, handing her a sword.

"Ladies first." He chuckled.

She smirked and leaped over the Yetis and Katherine. Slicing multiple nightmare men into pieces.

"THATS FOR MY WING!!" She exclaimed.

North loosened his collar a little, "I better not let her show me up eh Katherine?" He laughed and leaped into battle alongside Tooth.

Katherine hopped onto a Yeti's back and clung the dagger Nightlight gave her, "L-Let's go Yakon!!!"

Tooth fended off against multiple fearlings that were going to tear Sandy apart. North finished them off with a lethal blow of his legendary sword. Tooth rushed over to an unconscious Sandy and pulled him out of the snowbank.

"Did you see Nightlight???"

Sandy nodded, _'They aren't here anymore. I didn't see which way they went...'_ he signed.

"Its okay Mate. I think they went out of this pass.. I don't know what Nightlight has planned.. but here's hoping he knows what he's doing." Bunnymund sighed.

"INCOMING!!" North shouted as he used his sword's magic to block a Nightmare General's black arrows from hitting Tooth, Sandy and Bunnymund.

A General was about to charge at the group until Katherine leaped off the yeti and stabbed him through the back. The dagger's properties caused a light to burst through his body, leaving him as nothing but soot. Katherine was slightly shaken up from what she just did. That was...sort of her first kill of anything.. She didn't know what to feel. North however looked so proud of her and rushed over.

"LOOK AT YOU!!! HE NEVER SAW YOU COMING!!" He yelled with pride.

Katherine smiled and brushed the soot off her dagger, "Come on! The moon is about to rise!"

Once the moon peeked out in the sky, the Guardians felt invigorated only slightly. Their willpower was doubled though, and their determination was stronger than ever.

Sandy whipped up his dreamcloud and the guardians charged back into battle with the yetis and warrior eggs to back them up.

"Come to see your guardian fall big man?" Pitch said mockingly towards the moon.

Shadows from the trees moved as Pitch absorbed the energy from them. His sword repaired itself after absorbing enough shadows, looking more menacing than ever. The gems on Nightlight's armor glowed brightly in sync with Nightlight's dagger. Nightlight stabbed it in the ice deeply a few times, before pulling it out and fixing his stance. Pitch looked confused at the gesture, but thought Nightlight was just sharpening the blade.

"Hmph. As if my own tears didn't make a good blade. No matter. I'll have a use for it once you're dead.."

 _'My ward... guide my blade so I may seal him away...Let me have one last fight in me...'_ Nightlight thought, hoping it would reach The Man In The Moon.

"No more waiting.. This ends now you pest!"

Nightlight raised his staff, "Lets finish this how we started it all-"  
  
They charged at one another with furious speed. Their blades screaming and scraping against one another.

"-Together."

It made their first ever fight on the moon clipper look like child's play. They were out for each other's blood. Shadows around their feet bent away from them and the wind itself grew harsher and harsher. Yet the wind was circling them and never once touched them. It was if the wind and shadows were keeping anything else from interfering with the fight. The Moon reached the center of the sky, making the dagger glow as bright as it could. Nightlight chose a new stance, readying himself for the final dance.

"If you think that puny thing will kill ME, you've gone delusional you sprite! DIE!!!!!"

Nightlight pushed himself off the ice and right at Pitch. Both letting out a yell unison reaching for that final blow on each other.

Blood dripped onto the frozen lake below them from both bodies standing inches away from each other.

Nightlight had never felt such a pain in his life. Pitch's sword was lodged right in his abdomen and his blood would not stop flowing. His vision blurred but he managed to see that he too, impaled Pitch. The diamond dagger was lodged right into Pitch's shoulder, glowing so bright Pitch couldn't look at it. The staff itself began to bend as Nightlight's gemstones were getting just as bright.

"N..o..NOO!!!" Pitch tried to let out a yell but the pain was too immense.

The ice underneath them was cracking wildly from the pressure of the magic being used by Nightlight.

"You were right....I.. can't kill you Pitch... But I can use the last of my p...ower to seal you away.." Nightlight grunted.

Pitch looked at the hand that rested on his staff and recoiled in horror. His body was being sucked into the dagger itself!!! Nightlight coughed out blood as he felt Pitch twisting his sword as hard as he could.

"No matter what you do to me..you'll still die..you're foo..lish.." Pitch's body completely turned into a shadow and was sucked into the diamond dagger.

The dagger's blade turned completely black and the sheer power of it all shattered the ice below Nightlight completely. Nightlight lost so much blood that he had no strength left to move. He looked up towards the moon and weakly reached out for it before his body plummeted into the water. The diamond dagger itself fell into the watery depths with him. Nightlight saw his staff sink past him and smiled to himself.

_'It...worked..'_

The Moon's light shined down on him even through the dark water. His little prince was doing his best to comfort him, but he was beyond saving. Nightlight watched more and more blood leave his body and stain the water around him.

_'Little Prince.. if you can hear me...please...grant just one more wish for me..for I don't have much time left.. I wish for my friends to know what happened..for Katherine to know.. I'm sorry. I'm sorry to you too Little Prince.. I love you so much.'_

The full moon was the last thing Nightlight saw before closing his eyes for the final time. The ice of the pond closed back up but the blood stains remained.

So did Nightlight's body.

"THERE'S NO READINGS FROM THE KING!! RETREAT!!!" A Nightmare general screeched to the fearlings.

Whatever remained of Pitch's army scattered like bugs in the night. Leaving the Guardians wounded but victorious. Yetis grumbled up a victory screech and North joined in. His was rather poor sounding compared to theirs but it still had heart. Sandy rested on his cloud sighing with a smile.

"Hot damn...he did it!!! Without their King they're runnin' away like roaches HAHA!!!" Bunny laughed.

"Where's Nightlight though..?" Tooth glanced around nervously.

"I-I'm sure he'll be here soon..." Katherine clutched her dagger.

Almost on cue, a beam of light shot straight towards them, but it wasn't Nightlight. It was a moonbeam straight from The Man In The Moon himself!! It did not dance like moonbeams usually did upon greeting them. It was rather still. Katherine's heart dropped to her stomach and the guardians all gathered around.

_"Guardians, Tsar Lunaroff says congratulations on your victory. This battle was not without losses. The yetis and magical creatures were valiant and their sacrifices will not be forgotten. However...I'm afraid to say there was one other loss tonight-"_

All of the guardians felt their blood run cold.

_"Nightlight was killed in his battle with Pitch. He was victorious however. Pitch is no more."_

Katherine dropped to her knees while her whole body shook. Tears welled up in her eyes and she let out a blood curdling wail. Every single guardian felt her wail hit them in their very core. She held herself low to the ground as she screamed and wept. Sandy held his face in his hands and silently cried. Only ever letting out a tiny hiccup. Bunnymund held Sandy close as he tried to hold it all in to look like the strong one, but he just couldn't. North buckled and reached out to Katherine, she reached out and clung onto him desperately.

"He...He was supposed to come bACK!!! HE.." Katherine screamed in North's chest as he held her tightly.

He too tried to be strong for her, but his emotions just poured out of him quietly. Tooth held onto Bunny's other arm and held onto Sandy's. The Moonbeam did not interrupt their grieving. It memorized Nightlight's entire message to them and decided it would deliver it at Nightlight's memorial. Until then, it silently watched it's heroes grieve over a beloved friend.

\-----

The memorial was a few nights after they got the news. The Guardians were still healing from their battle wounds and emotional wounds..but they doubted those wounds would heal as fast. The guardians all gathered in the North Pole and were standing by the guardian's sigil. Nightlight's section was surrounded by candles. The guardians silently held hands with each other in a circle, paying their respects in a moment of silence.

Ombric separated from the circle and faced all everyone.

"I was in between the tick and the tock during the whole battle... I saw many possibilities of what would happen. Not once did I ever think this was where it would head.." Ombric cleared his throat and continued, "He was the first guardian. The first friend of Tsar Lunaroff and our family. We tried to protect him but in reality all he wanted to do was protect us. He was truly a selfless individual and I think everyone would agree... His sacrifice will not be in vain."

"Thank you Ombric." North said, "Ah. If I remember correctly... the moonbeam had something else to tell us.."

The moonbeam flickered into view and floated over Nightlight's visage.

 _"The last bit of energy Nightlight used, was to wish for his final thoughts to be shared with all of you. He loved all of you so dearly and fought Pitch directly for your safety. Watching you all possibly die for him was too much for him to bare. He wanted you all to know how sorry he was for doing what he did."_ The Moonbeam turned towards Katherine, _"He also wanted you to know how much he loved you Katherine. He loved you with every fiber of his being."_

Katherine smiled and tears flowed out of her eyes all over again. She leaned onto North and held the dagger Nightlight made her close to her heart.

"May his sacrifice be celebrated in this new era of peace..." Katherine said.

"If any of Pitch's minions dare to try to disrupt it..we'll be ready." North said with his arm around Katherine, smiling warmly with tears lining his eyes.

"Yeah..." Katherine said as she rubbed her finger along the hilt of her dagger.

Tsar Lunaroff was indeed watching the memorial and clapped a little for the touching words from everyone. When it appeared to be over, he changed his gaze to the pond he heard Nightlight's wish from...an idea swirled in his mind that was indeed a risky one.


	2. The Star

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THE STAR.--Loss, theft, privation, abandonment; another reading says--hope bright prospects.
> 
> MIM finally tries to revive Nightlight, but it back fires in the most odd way. The wind welcomes Jack into the world when MIM couldn't bring himself to. Thus begins Jack's lonely journey into becoming a spirit of ice. 
> 
> END OF PROLOGUE

The passing day was not easy for any of The Guardians. They were trying to find a new sense of routine in the void of war, but moving on was rather hard. The Man In The Moon spent many hours looking at the pond that his fallen guardian fell in. Nightlight was no longer a Nightlight by the time he perished.. So resurrecting him would be challenging. However, MIM knew that Nightlight couldn’t just stay dead… a lot of people needed him.. The Guardians needed him.. He needed him.. Was it selfish to do such a thing? Possibly. 

“Let him rest!” he could hear part of himself scream.

Yet it was unfair to Nightlight as well. He was starting to grow up and just barely touched adulthood before he sacrificed himself. An eternal child robbed of his right to at least mature. What a tragedy. Though he supposed it was true to all who die young, yet he could do something about it. Not all spirits could be killed permanently after all. 

“Sire,” A moonbot whispered to him, “We can’t calculate your magic will save him completely...something might come out wrong or he will be wrong..”

MIM sighed and leaned back in his chair.  
“Yes you’re right… I’m aware of the circumstances but if I don’t act soon there might not be anything left of Nightlight to revive! He deserved so much better than this..”

The moonbot got quiet for a moment, “But what if he doesn’t become a guardian like we hope?”

Silence filled the air as MIM felt a twinge of fear tighten his throat.  
“Nightlight loved the Guardians more than anything.. Like family. If anything went wrong, I’m sure he’d feel drawn to them regardless. That was his purpose after all-”

MIM froze at how that sounded and put his head in his hands.  
“That sounded a lot better in my head… I’m sure all of you know what I mean. I-I’m sure Nightlight will come back good as new anyway. I believe in him.”

The moonbot backed away a little, almost knowing he couldn’t talk his king down from the idea. It had to admit, it felt wrong. From what it saw, Nightlight had accepted his death..would he have wanted this..? Sure some Guardians beat death before but...Nightlight just seemed to accept it.. MIM only seemed to glance over the fact hastily. Perhaps he was riddled with grief and wanted to just FIX IT. The moonbots and moon mice would never know. They watched their king focus entirely on the pond with worried expressions on their faces.

The ice began to crack and Mim smiled with hope.

Darkness was all around him. The water was still and almost nothing in the water moved, filling it with an eerie silence. Then finally..he saw something.   
Light.  
Something was pulling him upwards but he could not open his eyes. The armor that once covered his body had rusted away and fallen completely off of him. All that remained on the young man was his black underclothes with a few holes that the Nightmare King ever so graciously made in the battle. The wounds themselves had closed up completely and left rather dark scars on his abdomen and arm. Slowly, the ice above broke completely as if it let him pass through it. The boy coughed and was able to open his eyes to see what saved him from the watery depths. 

His once brilliant green eyes were now an icy blue color..and there were snowflake patterns around his pupils. Tsar Lunaroff noticed almost instantly but remained silent. The boy looked up and felt the moon’s comforting glow hold him in the air. He did not look upon it with the warm smile he used to, rather it was painted with confused joy. The light slowly let him down onto the frozen surface and he looked around as an infant would in a new environment. Looking for something familiar to fixate on or just to take it all in. Just as he was about to walk around, he felt something wooden beneath his bare foot. It was a long wooden staff, devoid of all the glorious color it once had. The boy looked at the crooked staff and noticed the tip almost looked like it held something… a fixture..? Maybe it was a weapon..? 

He wouldn’t have known that it once held the prison of the Nightmare King, for he didn’t even seem to know who that was. 

“Why am I not surprised…” Mim mumbled to himself, “Of course his minions would have ravaged this sacred place..”

“Should we alert the guardians?? Couldn’t they break him out of the dagger?!” a Moonbot said with great worry.

“I’ll let them know of this development. Thankfully diamonds are hard to break on their own, so that gives us a window of opportunity.” 

He then returned his gaze to that...boy.. It wasn’t Nightlight at all. He didn’t recognize the moon, nor his own staff...It was just as he feared. Not every bit of Nightlight could come back. So who was standing before him now? Who did he bring back?

Not even the boy himself knew. He picked up the staff and frost instantly covered the wooden surface. The sight brought a smile to his face and he had the crooked tip of the staff touch a nearby tree. It caused frost to coil around the tree everywhere he touched. He then could hear the wind howling louder and louder until it finally reached him. The wind swirled around him as if welcoming him to the world like a parent. He began to laugh as he tried to dance with it, feeling an indescribable amount of joy. 

‘Hes... A nature spirit now..’ Mim thought, unsure what to think or feel.

Frost had been painted all over the nearby trees and their leaves before he took off into the sky. The wind raised him high and brushed his white hair out of his face. 

“Jack Frost…” Mim said aloud.

The boy turned towards the moon in surprise, was..was it talking to him..?

“Is...Is that my name..?” he asked. Even his voice sounded different from Nightlights…

“Yes,” Mim said, “Go forth Jack Frost.” 

“Wait!!! What am I supposed to do?! Moon spirit!! Can you tell me?!” Jack cried out as the Moon’s bright light dimed away from him.

Jack’s spirit deflated and he nearly sunk out of the sky. The wind gently brushed against Jack’s face and lifted his chin to the heavens above him. He knew he was Jack Frost, the moon told him so. The moon raised him out of the lake for something, he was sure of that. 

“Wind!!” Jack called out, “I uh...I don’t know where to go.. Can you take me somewhere..? Anywhere..?”

The wind obliged, guiding him through the dark sky. The breeze felt like it coursed through his whole body, exiting through him in an excited laugh. Jack just couldn’t help it. He felt wild.. He felt free. He waved to migrating birds and cloud spirits.They hooted at the newly born winter spirit, causing him to hoot back. He didn’t quite understand it yet, but it was a language all on its own. He had energy and by the gods he was gonna burn it off. The clouds around him followed his directions and gathered by a nearby settlement. Just as quickly as they gathered, he burst through them causing any water they had inside them to freeze over. 

“Snow!!!!” Jack called out excitedly. 

He managed to catch a few snowflakes on his hands and smiled at the fact they didn’t melt in his hands. Oh how beautiful they were… surely the townspeople would appreciate his handiwork. Jack flew sharply down to the ground, but then realized he didn’t exactly know how to stop..

“WOAH WOAH HEY!!!” Jack called out before crashing face first into some snow covered grass.

He promptly spat out the dirt in his mouth and his disappointment was quickly erased hearing laughter nearby. Jack leapt onto his feet and dashed into the town with excited anticipation. What he saw certainly didn’t let him down. A hand full of village children ran around trying to catch snow on their tongues.

“Old Man Winter visited us Papa look!!!” A young girl squealed as she tugged on his arm to let her play in it 

“Haha..Yeah he did. But I’m sorry sweetie.. It’s about to get dark out. Maybe another time.” 

Jack looked a little confused, maybe they mistaken him for another spirit..? 

“No my name is Jack Frost actually… maybe you could-” right as Jack approached them, the little girl and her father phased right through him. 

It was the first time Jack had actually felt cold since he left the pond. People just kept passing through him like he was a ghost. It terrified him enough to run out of there and hide behind one of their homes. Tears stung his eyes while he frantically rubbed his chest, trying to forget the sensation of having people go through his body. No matter what he did, he just kept shaking. The grass around him completely froze over as he huddled his knees close to his face. He waited until all the villagers went inside, to finally get up and leave. The moon still watched over him but Jack wished he didn’t have to look at it

“Why didn’t they see me Moon spirit? What was that...w-what did i do wrong..” He asked but it was in vain. The moon did not have an answer for him.

The moon floated there indifferent to the unfamiliar spirit in its presence. This wasn’t who he wanted. This wasn’t who he remembered…. 

Jack sighed and looked towards the sky, “Wind..? Please take me home..” 

No response. 

"The lake. The lake I came from…" 

It lifted him up swiftly and carried him gently all the way back. Jack still couldn't land gracefully and landed on his side into a snowbank. 

"I hope I get the hang of that soon…" he muttered. 

Jack sat up slowly, reached for his staff and used it to limp over to an impressive looking tree. The inside was hollowed out and looked just big enough for him to lay down in. He quickly glanced around to see if it belonged to a tree nymph or maybe magic squirrels, but he saw nobody. He slowly slipped into the tree’s center and tried to sleep in the eerie silence. His dreams filled with the hope that one day the Moon would talk to him again and help him find his purpose.

But that was a long time ago..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight  
> Won't somebody help me  
> Chase the shadows away?"  
> Haha damn that Abba song got me through editing this whole chapter. MIM got a man after midnight but he doesnt know how to chase shadows away yet :P  
> This one is rather slow but the next chapter will be a lil faster. Trying to blend the movie with some book elements isn't as easy as I thought but its comin.


	3. The World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THE WORLD—Assured success, recompense, voyage, route, emigration, flight, change of place. Reversed: Inertia, fixity, stagnation, permanence.
> 
> Jack finally gets an answer but isn't one hes so cozy with. Tensions continue to rise as does the stakes..

Countless nights, never ending centuries.. Jack still had no response from the man who had resurrected him. He who helped him find his new name and had power that Jack could not imagine the full scope of at the time. Jack Frost remained alone. He walked along the illuminating street lights with no rhyme or reason. Another person walked past him without a second glance and proceeded to slip on a frozen puddle. Jack was unaware a puddle nearby reacted to him but he got a little chuckle out of seeing the look on the human’s face. The puddle would unfreeze by daylight so it wasn’t a big deal. 

The light around him suddenly seemed brighter than anything a mere streetlight could produce. He looked up to see the Moon’s light on him as if it was judging him for laughing at such a thing. Jack’s expression hardened and he floated up to a rooftop to see the moon.

“Oh sure. You notice me laughing at that, but not when I beg you to just speak to me. You put me here for a reason.. The LEAST you could do is tell me why..” Jack spat out in anger. 

Silence.

No moonbeams to relay a message.

Nothing. 

The harsh moonlight started to fade away as if it decided to look at something else.

Jack glared up at the moon and floated down off the mortal’s rooftop. 

_‘Days poured into making children laugh and marvel at my handiwork isn’t enough for him. Saving kids from accidents is not enough. Even keeping them from getting lost in snow storms is not enough.’_ He thought. 

Jack could feel his cold heart grow resentful towards the Man In The Moon. If he just said something to him at the start maybe he’d finally feel like he knew what he was meant to do. Now he was directionless, scattering himself thin through the wind trying to find something worthwhile. A nearby telephone pole was made into Jack’s makeshift seat for the time being. The emotional hangover from the newest failed interaction caused his limbs to feel heavier than usual. The only thing he could do to alleviate the sensation was to close his eyes to shut everything out just for a little while.  
Almost on cue, he could hear the sounds of moving sand traveling through the air. He quickly opened his eyes and a weak smile emerged through his woes. Golden sand danced through the air on a mission to find sleeping children to bless their dreams. Jack reached up, touched the sand stream and dolphins made of sand danced around him. It was a sight for sore eyes as they happily chirped and clicked at him before going back into the sand stream. 

_'Dolphins huh? I oughta ask Sandy what those mean.. I’ve been seeing Dolphins for a while now.’_ Jack thought to himself. 

The sand went on it’s merry way and faded out of his view. Jack looked up at the nearby Mount Esja, standing stall and ethereal even in the nighttime. Something about the Nordic countries just made him feel comfortable. He leaped down from the telephone pole and traveled to one of the nearby rivers to rest. Jack wasn’t on a schedule like most of the famous spirits, so he had all the time in the world to soak in Iceland’s atmosphere. He closed his eyes for just a moment, smiling to himself hearing the dolphins click as he drifted off. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
Far north, a recognizable large man was humming away making a nesting doll out of ice. It was no small feat but Nicholas St.North liked a challenge. Right as he was finishing the final shell, a yeti burst through the door, causing North to fumble and drop the ice shell. He groaned in agony and the yeti gasped in remorse.

“How many times do i have to tell you to KNOCK???” North sighed in frustration.  
  
He rubbed the space between his eyebrows for a moment, then turned back to the yeti.  
“Okay. What is it?”  
  
The yeti, still in panic, gestured North to follow it. It led North to the main part of the workshop, where an alarming sight appeared right in front of the globe. North felt chills run down his body, as dark sand formed around it. It made the unforgettable silhouette of none other; than Pitch Black. Their sworn enemy. The black mass swirled around the globe, laughing maniacally until fading completely.

“Can it be…?” North whispered.  
  
North looked up towards the moon briefly, no response. It was his turn to call upon his comrades for the high level emergency.  
  
“Ombric!!! Ready the Borealis!” North called out to his former teacher.

Ombric pushed his glasses to his face and nodded. “After all this time...could he really be back?”

North sighed. “I thought Nightlight’s dagger was enough to seal him away...” He looked towards Nightlight’s sigil near the rest of the guardians in front of his fireplace. 

Ombric had no time for a moment of silence for the fallen guardian, he charged up his light magic and unleashed the northern lights“Travel to all the known guardians. Let them know we need them once more!” Ombric commanded. 

The lights obeyed the wizard and began to spread out rapidly through the heavens. It reached the far corners of the earth where all the guardians hid, busy with their jobs and preparations.  
North watched it in anticipation, deep down he had hoped The Boogeyman was vanquished all those years ago by his lost friend. MIM had told them that what had sealed Pitch was stolen, but he'd never imagine it would be broken. He let out a heavy sigh and Ombric put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. Both looked out towards the lights, bracing themselves for the unknown. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
“You better have a good reason for this North! I was almost done chronicling celtic folktales!!” a familiar voice called out to them.

A young woman landed her giant goose near the reindeer pen and waved the yetis to take care of her goose. Without missing a beat, she ran through the workshop right up to North and Ombric. She had her long hair tied up in a low ponytail that looked a little loose from the arctic wind hitting her in the face. 

“Ah, Mother Goose. The first as usual.. Did you lace your boots up properly?” Ombric inquired with a smile.

She did a double check on her boots, then puffed her cheeks at her adoptive father, who got a good chuckle at making her look.  
“Haha. Very funny.” 

North quickly greeted her with a hug. “Sorry for the sudden call Katherine. Things are about to get scary around here.”  
  
Katherine raised her brow, “Scary how…?”  
  
Just then brilliant gold sand flew through the window and a tiny golden man materialized from the sand cloud. He quickly wiped his hands of any dream sand then stomped his way over to North. Sand puffed out of his ears like angry steam.

“I know you were on your night run Sandy but I can assure you this is very important!” North, already dreading facing the fury of the rest of his team, took a quick swig of eggnog from a stein. 

“Why don't you send out the rest of your dream sand while we wait for everyone?” Katherine offered. 

Sandy nodded in agreement and perched himself onto the windowsill to send out the remainder of the sand streams.

“So I’m assuming you’ll tell us what's going on when the rest get here?” Katherine asked.

North sighed. “Yes. Just a moment. I have to go collect something.”  
  
North walked off to the globe, and told an elf to inspect the floors for any of that dark substance he saw earlier. Sure enough, the elves sweep up just enough dark sand to fill a tiny vial. “Sandy! When you get a chance you need to see this..” North called out. 

Katherine rolled her eyes and was just about to put her tome away when Ombric noticed it.  
  
“Oh. Is that a new book in your collection..?” Ombric inquired.

“Oh! Yeah it is actually. The Brothers Grimm entrusted it to me. It’s got all kinds of spells I’ve been practicing.” Katherine smiled, handing it over to Ombric to take a peek at, “I brought it just in case we had an *actual* emergency.”

North felt her staring at him so he turned to Sandy, who was running his fingers through the dark sand. It started to purify after being exposed to Sandy’s fingers and returned to being dream sand. He looked at North with much concern on his face, and North was equally as stumped. Sandy took the, now purified sand, and let it flow out the window. Just then, Bunny leapt through the window Sandy had used, barely giving Sandy any time to duck. Sandy took a second to catch his breath, then huff at Bunny. He could have at least given the little man a heads up. Tooth then zoomed right through the same window, knocking poor Sandy over.

“Oh Dear!! Sorry Sandy… I was multitasking with my fairies while flying. a-and I didn’t see you.” Tooth sputtered while helping him up.

“Sorry Sandy.” Bunny mumbled scratching his ear. “Say North what's the big idea calling us here anyway. I was in the middle of perfecting a chocolate recipe-”

“Yes Yes I'm sure that was very important. It’s not even your season yet though, so there isn’t much to fret about.” North muttered with a half smirk.

Bunny’s ears perked up and he scowled.  
“OHHHH sure your season isn't for another 2 months North. I’m shocked YOU took time out of your day to call us instead of focusing on Christmas.. Or whatever it is that other day you have.” 

“December 6th Aster.” North retorted. 

Katherine and Sandy watched both of them go back and forth with no desire to intervene whatsoever. Sandy calmly levitated himself off the ground and sipped a stein of eggnog he got from an elf. Tooth zipped past commanding her fairies to continue collecting children’s teeth and seemed to spout a lot of coordinates in rapid succession. 

Ombric simply sighed and rubbed the sides of his head. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw moonlight shine through the skylight in North’s workshop. Ombric instantly stood up straight in alarm, no one else had noticed yet. 

“Sandy.” Ombric said tapping Sandy’s shoulders, “If you wouldn’t mind.”  
  
Sandy smirked and used his sand whips to yank North and Bunny’s hair. He simply tapped Tooth’s shoulder to get her attention which caused North and Bunny to glare daggers at him.

“Sandy what the hell was that fo-”

“Bunny shush!!! Look!” North pointed towards the full moon illuminating the room. 

The guardians all fell silent as a ray of moonlight was shining directly at the Guardian’s sigil on the floor. A crystal pillar emerged from the center of the sigil, standing tall and proud, reflecting the Moon’s light brilliantly. An image was slowly trying to form as they spoke. The Image was a shade that formed the likeness of Pitch Black

“What…?” Katherine felt the hairs on her neck stand up, “He’s...He’s free..?! I thought..”

North put his hands on her shoulder to comfort her, then took a big sigh before he spoke. “Ombric and I saw him. I could feel something was wrong...I could feel it.. in my belly!”

Bunny looked at North like he was crazy, then at the crystal. “Tsar, what do you want us to do, besides kick his butt again of course.”

  
The Moonlight grew brighter and Pitch’s image faded. It shined light on the entire Guardian sigil. All The Guardian’s mouths nearly hung agape. The Man In The Moon had not chosen a guardian in several centuries. Possibly more than that. 

“He must think we need help..” North muttered 

Ombric stroked his beard, “it makes sense…given we have been down one member for so long..”

Katherine focused on the crystal. “Who do you think it's gonna be…?”

  
Sandy formed a sand image of a mermaid as his guess. Tooth giggled and North smirked at it. Bunny just rolled his eyes, crossing his fingers that it wasn’t the Groundhog.

“Oi, it's forming something!”

The crystal’s light came all together and formed a light image of a young adult. He had a hood on, no shoes, a staff and a mischievous smirk on his face. 

“JACK FROST?!” Bunny called out. 

North put his hands on his hips and made a quiet “huh.” sound. 

“North there’s gotta be some mistake!” Bunny demanded. 

“Jack as a guardian...???” Katherine whispered.

“Manny thinks we need Jack’s help. It is destiny.” North looked up at the crystal, then at the moon. “Plus… Pitch might be using a new trick..

Sandy nodded and signed to the others, ‘Dark sand. It purified after I held it. It has dark corrupting energy in it. It was like my dreamsand..but..not quite so’ 

“He’s corrupted your dream sand…?” 

Sandy could only shrug at Katherine. He looked very unsure and somewhat unnerved. 

“Don’t worry Sandy. We’ll find out soon once we fight him again..” Tooth tried to reassure him. 

North turned to the moon above them, “How can we find Jack Frost? Nature spirits are very hard to track down Manny..”  
  
The moonlight moved from the crystal and onto the golden globe. It got smaller and began to dance around Iceland. Then, it slowly made it’s way to Russia. 

“He’s currently in Iceland, but will be heading to Russia.” Tooth said as she watched the lights. “We don’t know for how long though so we’ll have to be quick on getting him.”

North looked at Bunny with a shit eating grin on his face, “Hey Bunny, I have an idea.”

  
  
  


Jack sat up, but he wasn’t in Iceland anymore…. Below him was a frozen lake surrounded by an ice tundra. There didn’t seem anything to be around for miles, until he heard the sounds of a baby crying. He tried to fly over to the baby but the wind wasn’t obeying him for some reason.  
  
“O...kay… Hang on Baby!” Jack tried to walk but heard a loud crack underneath his feet.

He looked up again and saw a man and a woman holding each other tightly. They were dressed in clothes that seemed oddly familiar to him. Were they royalty? 

_“Save him…. Please save him…”_ Their hollow voices echoed harmoniously. 

Jack’s whole body trembled, “Do...Do I know you?! Hey!!” He tried stepping forwards to them but the cracks got louder.

The large cracks started to divide the women and man from their baby and the longer he waited the worse they became. 

“Ah… H-Hang on!! Wind come on!!! HELP ME!!!” Jack waved his staff around and it propelled him towards the baby.

Almost in slow motion, he watched the wind he summoned go towards the couple. His eyes widened in horror as he tried to reach out for them but it was too late. The wind completely obliterated them into nothing but stardust. Jack looked towards the baby and the wind shot him up high into the air. He leaped out to catch him, but the baby kept on floating upwards until the child was no longer visible

“Aaahh!!...ah..” Jack couldn’t even get out a scream. 

The ice below him opened up to a black void that looked like it swallowed up any light that went inside. Jack tried to summon the wind again, but there was no response. All he could do was fall into it. Tears welled up in his eyes while looking towards the hole’s entrance. The only thing he could see was an outline of a short and stout man just watching him fall.

“ **HELP ME!!** ” Jack finally cried out in vain.

The man gave no reaction.

The darkness swallowed him til he could see nothing. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Jack’s body jolted himself awake gasping for air. The Icelandic snow was thankfully all around him like a comfort blanket. He looked up towards the sky and was greeted with the impressive sight of the aurora borealis. It’s presence itself almost entirely removed the post-nightmare jitters that plagued Jack’s arms. The lights felt as if it was an old friend coming to check up on him. 

_‘You’re early.’_ Jack thought, with a tired smile.

He staggered onto his feet and leaped into the air to get closer to the magnificent colors above him. He practically barreled into the lights face first laughing his head off. The lights seemed to react to him, and they danced around him. Then just as quick as it took notice of him, the lights seemed to pull away and make haste with its exit. 

“Oh no ya don’t!” Jack laughed.

With a quick motion of his staff, the wind quickly obliged and whipped him right on the light’s trail. It felt like an amazing game of cat and mouse. Jack flew through clouds multiple times and cackled as the condensation practically froze onto him. He just barely dodged some storm spirit and she threw a piece of cloud at him in anger. He just laughed and shook off the frozen condensation. That was when Jack was at his most free. Nothing but the wind in his hair, staff in his hand and the occasional dodging of birds. Can’t forget the air spirits either. It was just him dancing and chasing the Northern lights. The lights took a dip towards what Jack thought had to be Russia and vanished. Puzzled,he decided to land in an empty public park to get a look around. Not a single sign of the northern lights. What a tease. 

_‘And we were having so much fun too….But why did it come to Russia? It's not supposed to make its rounds here til April or August..”_ Jack pondered. 

“Been a while hasn’t it Frost?” A familiar voice called out.

He squinted a little trying to locate who was talking to him, then Bunnymund finally stepped out of the shadows. “Easter Sunday wasn’t it?” Bunny said with a slight growl.

Jack smiled and hopped on top of a bench. “Aww you're not still mad about the blizzard, are you?”

“Yes.” Bunny grunted. “But that’s not why I’m here.” 

Bunnymund signaled someone before Jack could even react. His staff got snatched out of his hands, then his entire body was grabbed by big furry hands. As much as Jack resisted, he was no match for the strength of the yetis. Not long after, Jack felt the yeti toss the sack onto a hard floor. All around him he could hear hushed whispers. 

“Is he dead..?”  
  
“No the bag is moving..I think he’s about to come out..”

He carefully opened the top of the sack and peeked out. Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, Sandman, Father Time and….some girl? 

North helped Jack up out of the sack, “Hey!! There he is, Jack Frost!” North said with a big smile on his face. 

“Wow...You gotta be kidding me..” Jack muttered.

“Hope the Yetis treated you well.”  
  
Jack sneered a little, “Oh yeah I just love being shoved in a sack and thrown into a magic portal.” 

“Oh! Good that was my Idea.” North chuckled. “Obviously you know Bunny-”  
  
“Mm.” Bunny grumbled on the sidelines. 

“Ombric-” Ombric waved while nose deep in a tome, “Tooth Fairy-”

“Hello!” Tooth said before going right back to commanding more fairies to set out. She flew over to him once all of the fairies were gone. “So sorry. We all can’t work only once a year haha.”  
  
“Yikes. She's...busy.” Jack mumbled with a nervous smile. 

North rolled his eyes and gestured towards the other members. “-we have Sandy-”  
  
Jack nodded at Sandy with a smile. Sandy nodded back and floated contently with his eggnog in hand. 

“-And Katherine, or Mother Goose.” North chuckled slightly 

Jack raised his brows a little and snickered. 

“What? Is something about my other name funny to you?” Katherine folded her arms squinting at Jack. 

“A little. I was expecting an actual goose. You’re just as good Goose Feathers.” 

“Goose..Feathers?” Katherine furred her brows in confusion but North jumped in before they could continue. 

“Yes yes many laughs we have here as you can see.”  
  
“Riiiight.” Jack used his staff to freeze a cookie sheet, “I must have done something *really* bad to get you all together. Oh! Am i on the naughty list?”

North laughed deeply, “HAH on naughty list?” His face and voice turned a little stern, “You hold record.”  
  
Jack paused for a moment but North continued.

“That’s all in the past now Jack, we are wiping clean the slate.” North said wiping the NAUGHTY tattoo on his arm. 

Jack backed up a little bit, looking very unsure as all the guardians were suddenly looking at him and North.  
“Uh. How come…?”  
Bunny snickered , “It’s not gonna be pretty.” he muttered. 

North didn’t let Bunny’s pessimism get to him though. He continued to smile and raised his arms. “Because you have been chosen to be a Guardian!” 

That. 

That made Jack’s fists tremble.The Guardians were clearly excited and yammering away. Yetis were coming in and giving North some ceremonial book. Some of the guardians like Ombric, Tooth and Sandy looked quite merry. Though Bunnymund looked less than amused. Katherine tried to look supportive but she seemed like she could tell Jack wasn't happy. She was right of course. Jack slammed his staff down to summon enough wind to get everyone to just STOP. Everyone froze and stared at Jack in confusion.

“What makes you think I want to be a guardian???” Jack asked.

North just started laughing, “Of course you do-”  
  
“-Ahaha. No. No I don't.”

North closed the book and glanced at his fellow guardians awkwardly. “Jack. It’s not really much of a choice. We were all chosen like you. By man in moon.”  
  
“He. He talks to you..?” Just as Jack spoke, the temperature in the room dropped rapidly around Jack. His breath was visible and his staff’s frost patterns were covering the wood by the minute. “Of course he does. Of COURSE he does! So this is his answer then. To something he couldn’t tell me himself. Centuries of silence for THIS?!” 

Sandy floated over in front of Jack fearlessly and started to speak telepathically, _“Jack please calm down or else you’ll freeze this whole room!”_

Sandy's somewhat loud ethereal voice got Jack to snap out of it and become aware what his powers were doing. He managed to make the room temperature drop by doing some breathing exercises. Sandy assisted by sprinkling a little bit of dream sand on him.

“Shouldn’t that put him to sleep mate..?” Bunnymund watched cautiously.

Sandy shook his head no. ‘Its hard for him to fall asleep. So it takes more dream sand to lull him to sleep.’ he signed. 

He took one more deep breath and the room warmed back up. Sandy floated up to Jack and put a hand on his shoulder sympathetically. 

‘I understand somewhat what you’re feeling. Before The Man In The Moon chose me, I was asleep for so many years..Centuries even. I had missed so much and had no idea where my only friend was. It was scary, but the moon comforted me from a distance.’

Jack ran his hands through his hair.

‘That doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt any less...but looks like he has a pattern for picking and choosing when he WANTS to.’ He thought.

He glared at the moon through the corner of his eye then focused back on the guardians.  
“Besides. You guys don’t want me. I'm not like you. I don’t have a schedule...or a designated Holiday that bribes kids into believing in me. I’m not a guardian. No offense.”

  
Bunnymund finally stepped towards him, “How is that not offensive?? Tsh, maybe we dodged a bullet here. I mean what does this guy know about bringing joy to kids anyway?” 

Jack laughed, “Have you ever heard of a snow day? Kids like what I do.”

“But they don’t believe in you do they?” Bunnymund sneered as he stepped closer to Jack.

Tooth tried to put her hand in front of Bunnymund, “Aster! Enough!”

Jack’s teeth slightly grinded against each other, “No no. The Kangaroo is right.”

“I’m sorry what did you just call me??” Bunnymund moved past Tooth and got right into Jack’s face. “I am not a kangaroo mate.”

“OHHH I’m sorry, then what are you?” Jack almost spat.

“I’m a bunny. The Easter Bunny. People actually believe in me.” 

Jack felt his eyes sting while he tried his best to hold back tears. His hand gripped his staff as hard as he could to restrain himself. He wanted to get back at Bunny so badly, but it wouldn’t do him any good. 

‘Don’t. Don’t. Just swallow it.’ Jack repeated in his head over and over, until the tears stopped forming.

Ombric glanced around and exchanged looks with North. Both sighed a little, knowing they had to do something. Ombric walked over and tapped Bunnymund with his staff. 

“He-” Bunnymund almost tried to justify himself, but the look of utter disappointment from Ombric made Bunnymund’s words fall flat.

“Why don’t we give you two some space…” Ombric gestured him to follow him,  
  
Bunnymund glared at Jack, and followed him. Katherine, Sandy and Tooth all followed Bunnymund. He wiped his eyes and was practically shaking after the whole ordeal.

“Jack. It’s okay..”  
  
“Don’t try to sugarcoat what just happened North. I get the gist.” Jack sat against the wall, staring at the Guardian’s sigil in front of his feet

He could see all of the guardians he just met, in their own little section with intricate details. However one in particular caught his eye. There was a section of the sigil that had what looked like a boy with longish white hair and a staff. Something about it just unsettled him from being close to it. 

“Okay what about this guy? Where is he? If you called everyone did he just decide to skip the meeting?” Jack inquired while tapping on Nightlight’s sigil.

North tensed up and tried to find his words. The sight of his fallen friend’s guardian sigil made him remember the memorial all too well. Jack noticed North’s silence and moved his staff away from it. Jack picked up on North's mannerisms and bit his lip a little. He pulled his staff away from it and felt like an ass.

North nodded. “He was killed centuries ago fighting Pitch by himself. Nightlight was the first guardian.”

  
“Sorry- I didn’t know North-”

North shook his head and smiled, “It’s okay Jack. Perhaps Manny knew of the hole that was left by his loss. He meant a lot to Manny naturally. That's a long story however. Maybe Katherine can tell it to you..if she’s able.”

_‘Guessing he meant something to her too. Hmph...So what. Is he giving them another white haired guy to replace the one they lost????? Kind of insensitive oh wisely Moon man. Am i just his replacement???’_ Jack thought to himself. 

“Everyone is...a little mixed up about having a new guardian. It has been so long you know. It doesn't excuse what Aster said to you though.”

Jack didn't have much to say about that. He just awkwardly sat there in silence. North scratched his neck a little trying to come up with something else.

"What do you put out in the world Jack?"  
  
"I'm sorry what?"

"Your center Jack. Everyone here has one. They all have something they put out into the world and protect at the same time."

He then got an idea, and snapped his fingers excitedly. North’s fingers began to glow and he seemed to summon a reasonably sized nesting doll. Jack’s mouth hung open a little as he slowly got back onto his feet.

“You know magic..?”  
  
North smirked ear to ear, “Of course I do! What did you think I just made toys? Though some of the things I do, do not require magic but you know. They make some things easier. It isn't my center though.. ”

Just as North was about to go into the nesting doll’s significance , Ombric cleared his throat to get their attention. “North, we’ve got trouble. It’s Tooth.” He said urgently. 

“This can wait. Come on Jack.” North sat the nesting doll down and swiftly followed Ombric.

Jack took one last look at Nightlight’s sigil, an odd sense of dread washed over him. He felt like covering it up or removing it because it was taunting him in some way. The intrusive thought of destroying a precious thing like that scared Jack quite a bit. Where did that even come from..? Intrusive thoughts like that weren’t normally so loud for him. He shook his head and flew into the globe room where everyone else was. 

Tooth looked like a complete wreck, buzzing back and forth rapidly. She was watching the lights on the globe flicker in and out.

“Please we have to hurry!! He has my fairies!! I can sense them.. Oh they’re so terrified..” Tooth went on and on. Her speech got faster the more scared she became. 

“Who does?” Jack inquired.

“Pitch.” Katherine budged in, “He’s making himself known in style apparently.”

“The Boogeyman?” 

“Yes mate. He’s been our enemy for ages.” Bunny snided. 

Jack remembered what North said about Nightlight’s demise and how Pitch was the reason for it. He didn’t quite have the whole picture of the history just yet, so he tried to keep up as best as he could. The Guardians would probably benefit from a conversation NOT talking about their dead comrade for once. 

“Traveling there by tunnel is rather difficult since there aren’t any known ones that go to Tooth’s Palace in Punjam Hy Loo.” said North. 

This made Bunny grumble. “Okay so any other ideas on getting there?”

  
Sandy looked at North and raised his brows a little. North instantly knew what Sandy was hinting at and laughed. “Everybody to the sleigh!!!”

Bunny’s ears folded, “Uh. Is it actually necessary???”

Tooth started to laugh a little.  
“Unless you want one of us flying you there, dangling you with only our arms or sand..” She teased.

“UGH. Fine.. I’ll take the sleigh..” Bunny gave in, trudging his feet behind North.

Ombric laughed watching the others begin to file out and Jack stopped as he realized Ombric wasn’t going. 

“Aren’t you coming? I thought all guardians go together on this kind of thing.” Jack asked.

Ombric simply shook his head. “I’d like to but in my state I stay here and make sure things are working. Protected. I’m not as combative as I used to be.”

“Oh...um. See you later then..?” was all Jack could say. He then flew off to catch up with the other guardians. 

Ombric looked back at Jack with a worried look on his face. “Good luck..”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOOBOY. This was actually the first chapter that was written compared to the first two. It's a lil fast and all over the place but we're finally getting to the meaty parts of the story. I cut out a few scenes including North taking Jack thru the workshop to nip chances of bonding in the bud. (I promise they'll talk about more stuff than just direct quotes from the movie and Nightlight.) The next chapter is very much its own plotline and sequence of events. I hope this was enjoyable regardless!


	4. The Eight Of Wands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THE EIGHT OF WANDS-- Hasty actions, Journey and Travel , A Journey or Flight, Motion, End to a delay
> 
> After being trapped for centuries, Pitch finally has a brief fight with the guardians.. However both parties have new tricks up their sleeves. They have a long way to go to perfecting them though.  
> Jack's fears and insecurities take root more than ever after the encounter.....

Once the Guardians landed, Tooth gunned it out of the sleigh and zipped around desperately for her fairies. To her dismay there wasn't a single one left at the palace.

“No.. No he took them all!!”

“Looking for something?” A voice echoed out.

All the guardians tensed up at once and immediately put themselves on guard. Jack did the same since it had to have been a threat… oddly enough the more the voice spoke, the more familiar it felt to Jack.

“Come out and face us Pitch!!!!” roared Katherine.

“Oh my my. Looks like someone’s grown up.” Pitch sneered, finally pulling himself out of the shadows.

Tooth’s feathers flared while she unsheathed her swords, “You better return all my fairies Pitch!!! NOW!!!” She shouted at Pitch.

“Or what? You won’t put a dollar under my pillow?”

“No! We’ll banish you again! We did it before sootman!” Bunny said, trying to keep track of Pitch.

Pitch reappeared under the tower Bunny was on and rolled his eyes, “Oh go suck an egg rabbit.”

He had to submerge himself back into the shadows once he heard Tooth charging at him. An ashy black horse burst out of the shadows and let out a hellish screech loud enough to startle Tooth. It knocked her into one of her own towers and leaped onto one of the railings. Pitch slithered back out and stroked it’s mane.

“Like it Sandman? Nightmares.. It took me a while to find a way to create them.. Lots of help from your precious dream sand.” Pitch sneered.

Sandy balled his fists up in rage, looking at his own dreamsand particles in his hand.

“Guess you had to make new minions since Nightlight did a number on your army of nightmare men.” Katherine spat out venomously.

Pitch curled his nose at the mention of the astral boy.

"You can see where that got him."

Katherine's normally good heart filled to the brim with fury in that exact moment. North managed to grab onto her shoulders and hold her back before she did anything too rash. Her eyes stung with an amalgam of emotions but she managed to swallow it once she felt North ground her. She clutched a pendant that dangled from a glittering gold chain tightly.

“Speaking of which… Is that.. Is that Jack Frost?? Since when were all of you so chummy? A new replacement for the boy?”

Pitch's phrasing of "replacement" struck Jack hard in the chest. He tried very hard to not let it outwardly show as he held his staff up, constantly looking around him at every shadow he saw. “We’re not.”

“Oh. You’re neutral then. I’m just going to ignore you then..but you must be used to that by now.”

“What do you want this time Pitch?” North growled, swords up at the ready.

Pitch’s expression turned sour and he looked down at the Guardians below him, “What you all have. To be believed in! That and well…revenge but I’m not stupid enough to go into specifics about THAT part.” Pitch laughed condescendingly.

The paint on the nearby towers started to slowly lose its color and chip away. Tooth gasped and looked all around.

“No…”

“Whats happening…?” Jack said with confused concern.

“Oh didn’t they tell you Jack? Its GREAT being a guardian, but there’s a catch. If enough kids stop believing in you, you get weaker...and weaker until there’s nothing left. No Easter, or Christmas, dreams or little fairies who come in the night.” Pitch snickered. “Just. Me.”

Bunnymund’s boomerang nearly hit Pitch square in the face but he managed to dodge it just in time. He was then met with Sandy’s whips, hurling him to the ground below. Katherine jumped onto Sandy’s dreamcloud and the guardians all descended after Pitch. Hellish screeches of the nightmares could be heard, along with yelling and clanking of swords. Jack tried to view the action, but the surrounding clouds were too thick for him to see through. Reluctantly, he decided to leap off the tower he was on. Hoping to at least do something useful. Once he made it to the ground, he felt something like pebbles underneath his feet. He lifted his foot up to see what it was...much to his horror..

"Teeth..?" Jack muttered.

With a quick glance, he saw dozens..countless baby teeth scattered all over the ground. Empty golden tooth boxes just carelessly laid about. He picked up the ones he stepped on and sighed in relief that they weren't broken.

"Like my handiwork Frost?" Jack heard Pitch behind him.

Jack turned around as fast as he could and used the wind to put some distance between him and Pitch.

“COME BACK HERE YOU COWARD!!” Katherine shouted.

Katherine landed on her feet hard but it didn't even seem to phase her. Her usual brown eyes were illuminating in sync with the sigil on her tome. The book flung itself open in reaction to Katherine's magic. She was grinning ear to ear staring down Pitch.

“What? Are three blind mice going to pee on me Goose?” Pitch laughed.

“Something like that.” Katherine smirked.

From her book emerged 3 large boars who utterly swept the floor with Pitch’s nightmare. Jack stood in surprise just staring at her. She packed more of a punch than one would think. One of the boars hunted after Pitch, who was ducking and leaping out of shadows. He summoned his nightmares to combat her boars, then slipped back into the shadows.

"Nice try ." Pitch said, sending her flying with a blow from his scythe made of dark sand.

"Katherine!!" Jack flew over to her to give her a hand, but she pushed his hands away and staggered onto her feet by herself.

Pitch cackled at the sight of her struggling before him.

"Try all you want little girl. You'll always be the weakest link of the guardians."

"Don't be so sure of that." Katherine smirked.

Pitch looked over his shoulder and saw North on top of Katherine's three boars. He slashed almost all of his nightmares into nothing but grains of sand. The remaining boars charged at Pitch.

"Oh please."

Pitch slipped into a nearby shadow of a rock right as the boars were inches away from him. The boars ran into the rock wall and took enough damage to turn into dust. Pitch was just about to taunt her yet again until two giant hands made out of dreamsand closed in on him. They held him far from the ground and tightly in their grainy palms.

“Nice job Sandy! Figured my three little pigs would be a good distraction~.” Katherine smiled.

“Little..?” Jack arched a brow.

Katherine thanked the remaining boar for their service and they returned to the tome. Tooth buzzed over to them with Bunnymund and North right behind them. North laughed loudly and patted Katherine on the back.

“Your new magic is impressive!! You should have seen me! He was mighty steed.”

“Y-Yeah..” Jack tried to speak up but then fixed his gaze onto Pitch

Tooth buzzed over everyone and stared down at the now captured boogeyman.

"So. Where. Are. My. Fairies." Tooth demanded.

Pitch started to snicker and stared back at her condescendingly.

"Where humans die clueless and others are never seen again. Even nature spirits are dominated by it's sheer power."

“Quit with the nonsense talk!!” North pointed his sword at Pitch, but Pitch didn’t flinch in the slightest

Tooth gasped sharply and slowly fluttered back to the ground. The tips of her tail feathers started to lose their luster, much to her horror.

"PITCH YOU BETTER START TALKING!!" Bunny roared, steadying Tooth back onto her feet.

"I've entertained you lot long enough. I've already got what I came here for. Enjoy the hunt~" Pitch smirked before his body disintegrated into nothing but a shadow.

Sandy tried to use his sand to catch Pitch, but Pitch was far too quick. He looked at Tooth apologetically and she patted his shoulder.

"You did your best..

Bunnymund tapped his foot in thought, trying to think of what Pitch's riddle meant.  
"Where humans die clueless..Nature spirits..? GAH!! That could be anywhere!"

North too was lost in thought.

"Siberia?"

Tooth shook her head, "I don't think so. I would have sensed if they were close when we were traveling here... They feel much farther away."

Katherine glanced over and saw Jack staring off into space. He too was trying to figure the mystery out. Where was a place that, he as a nature spirit, would never trespass? A few places came into mind, but he also had to take into consideration that the area also had a human body count. Nothing new for natural mysteries but...

Then it hit him.

"Oh!" Jack turned to the guardians, "I think I have an idea where they are."

Tooth practically lit up hearing Jack say so, "Where?!"

"The Bermuda Triangle." Jack said simply.

Bunnymund looked puzzled for a second. "He's right.. It fits the bill to what he was describing... yer saying not even spirits like you can be there?"

"Not really? We can but the area just feels..off to us? The storms there have killed unlucky air spirits and mermaids from what I remember hearing. If I was in Pitch's shoes, that's where I'd hide them."

Katherine nodded slowly, "Yeah.. That makes sense! Good thinking Jack."

Jack felt a little proud of himself, seeing the guardians talk among themselves. Tooth broke away from the group to stare at the piles and piles of discarded teeth littered about. She lowered her wings and sighed.

"All my hard work..." She muttered.

Jack walked over to her, "What would he want with these anyway? He just tossed them around for no reason."

Tooth shook her head, "No. He was looking for something from the looks of it."

"When we get your fairies back, you'll have plenty of help putting these back where they belong." Katherine said trying to comfort her.

North stroked his beard and walked over to Tooth, "Tooth. Bunny and I will stay behind and gather all the teeth we can find somewhere safer than the grass and dirt. You focus on finding your fairies for now."

Tooth smiled slightly, "Thank you North. You're right.." She stood back up and looked over at Jack. "We...need your help actually. It'd be safer if we had someone who controls the wind traveling with us through that hectic place."

Katherine wedged in, "I-I'm coming too!" Don't look at me like that.. I have a spell or two that can help me temporarily fly there with them."

Sandy gave Katherine two thumbs up and nodded towards North and Bunny.

"You're right. They might need some supervision so that way they don't fight the entire time." Katherine snickered.

"We aren't children Sandy!-"

"You two sure fight like it." Katherine retorted.

Jack could hear them all banter, but he felt in no position to interject. Despite everything, he still felt so out of place among them. He looked at the others, then at the sky for just a moment. The moon was slowly rising up into the sky as the Sun was vanishing over the horizon. The beautiful painted sky slowly turning into darkness was almost a disappointment to Jack. Now that THING had to stare at him. He floated up to the cliff side so he could get just a private moment away from the group. With a heavy sigh, Jack looked directly at the moon.

“It's me again. Look. I still don't know if what I'm doing is right. This is where you think I'm meant to be but something just isn't sitting right with me. Am I doing this correctly???"

Jack held his breath, waiting. For something. Anything. A sign. He balled his fists up and stuffed them into his pockets.

"You spoke to them...Can you just say something..? Anything???"

“Jack! Come on slowpoke we got fairies to save!!” Katherine barked out to him.

He took one last look at the moon before jumping, “I don’t know how much longer I can keep waiting on you.”Jack said, his voice numb.

Jack sighed and floated off the spire to catch up with the others. Despite them directly including him, he still felt like a puzzle piece that didn’t exactly match the others. He had to shake that off. Stuff it into his pocket and forget about it for a bit, he was needed. At least there was that.

Katherine stretched and flipped through her book rapidly as Jack floated back down to them.

"Aha! Found it!" she exclaimed excitedly.

She sped through the verses and began to recite the incantation. Jack watched in confusion with the others. Not long after, Katherine's body glowed brightly, morphing into a somewhat familiar shape. The book fell out of her hands as she yelped in surprise. When the light faded, instead of Katherine, all they saw before them was a giant raven.

"AAAGH!!" Katherine cawed out in horror, "I THOUGHT IT WOULD SUMMON A RAVEN!! NOT TURN ME INTO ONE!!"

North picked up the tome and looked at the spell she tried to use. He couldn't help but laugh when he found the error.

"Katherine. This is The Seven Ravens spell.. you know. The story of children being cursed with the form of ravens."

Katherine sighed, feathers all ruffled. "That's what I get for speed reading..."

"Aw it's not all bad Kat.. Its a good look on you!" Tooth giggled.

Jack couldn't help but chuckle too. Katherine just huffed and looked towards Tooth and Jack.

"Tooth.. would you mind holding onto my tome..? I don't exactly have any fingers.."

"Sure." Tooth smiled, picking the book off the ground.

"You sure you wanna travel like that Kat..?" Bunnymund watched her try to stretch her wings. He suddenly felt a little uneasy with his friend being a raven of all birds.

Katherine sighed, "I'll be fine Aster. This will wear off probably by the time we get to Bermuda."

"Let's be off then!" Tooth called out as she zipped off into the sky.

Jack watched Katherine start to flap her new wings and nearly snorted. She proceeded to whap him in the head with her large wing and then try to catch up with Tooth.

"What??? Can I call you Raven Feathers now??" Jack asked trailing after them.

North, Bunny and Sandy waved the trio off as they made a beeline to Bermuda. Little did they know, a shadow was watching them very keenly. It slowly solidified from the spot Jack was trying to speak to MIM and smirked knowingly.

“You’re about to break the toy you just got, old friend.” Pitch said, his eyes fixated on the moon, “Your silence is a betrayal all on it’s own. I wonder. How much longer will it take, before you and your soldiers completely break him? ”

The further they got away from Punjam Hy Loo, the more at ease Jack felt knowing they'd be in a different time zone. Tooth was understandably quiet, she was trying to remain alert and sense her fairies in any way possible. Katherine was trying to focus on flying. She had to admit, it felt nice after a while. Thoughts of her using the Seven Raven's spell to fly with her beloved snow goose amused her quite a lot. Jack glanced at her and noticed something peculiar poking out from under the feathers around her neck. Katherine noticed without even having to turn her head. She could see out of the sides after all.

"What?"

Jack jumped a little and cleared his throat. "Sorry. Its. Nothing."

The awkward silence got so thick it felt suffocating.

"Okay. I have a small question.."

"Lay it on me."

"Whats that around your neck?" Jack asked.

Katherine's eye widened a little bit, sighing in relief that her necklace was still in tact with her new avian form. She took a minute to think of how to respond and she sort of chuckled softly.

"A Moonstone. It.. It used to be part of a friend's armor. He had a whole set but this was all I could find of it."

Jack caught the tone of her voice and had a feeling he knew who the 'friend' was.

"Were you close?"

"Very."

He tried to think of something to say to fill the void of their conversation. Just when he thought nothing would, words just sort of slipped out of his mouth without a second thought.

"He'd be very proud to see you become so strong I think."

Katherine's eye fixed on him and her mouth was slightly open in surprise. She wanted to brush it off as a generic comforting statement but something about the way Jack said it just felt so genuine to her. She of course knew he probably meant every word but it gave her a feeling she couldn't really put in words.

"North told you didn't he."

"Just a little bit.." Jack scratched his neck. "Sorry if that was insensitive-"

"-No no Jack its fine. You just caught me off guard is all......." She looked away then back at him, "Thanks.."

Just as Jack was about to say something, Katherine continued on.

"I promised myself ever since he fell, that I'd get strong enough to protect myself. I've done okay in the past sure... but that one period I was held captive by Pitch haunts me. I never want to be like that ever again."

"He held you captive?"

"Mhm." Katherine stared off into the distance, "Nightlight gave up his powers to save me. It was just a handful of years before...you know."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It was before your time. That's probably for the better.. Everything feels more stable in this time period. Well. It did before Pitch came back."

Katherine cleared her throat and turned her eye towards him.

"I'm glad you're with us though."

Jack wanted to accept that compliment. He wanted to accept maybe one of the guardians was trying to bond with him. Try to get to know him even. It was a good thing wasn't it...? So why did the idea alone scare him? He was nowhere ready to just open up to her the way she was with him right then. It felt unfair, here she was opening up yet he couldn't. Nothing about the interaction felt entirely fake to him, but the fear of him being Nightlight's replacement just rooted in his chest deeper than ever. She couldn't see him like that... could she?  
It felt horrible.

Katherine wanted to smack herself in the head after seeing Jack quiet down so suddenly after she said that. She thought she was being welcoming.. what did she do wrong? Was it too sudden? All she could do was guess and assume. She was far too embarrassed to say anything else.

"How are you holding up, Tooth?" Jack said flying a little closer to her.

"Hmm? Oh I'm alright! Sorry I got tunnel vision pretty bad right now haha.."

Jack waved his hand dismissively, "You're valid. We're making good time from the looks of it. Are we close?"

Tooth's feathers ruffled as she tried get a reading again, "Almost. We're over the outskirts of Europe at this point. The air is gonna get cold soon Katherine! Brace yourself!"

"Roger!" Katherine replied.

Jack snickered a little, being immune to the cold gave him a big advantage. Anything to keep his mind off the chills of his fears was welcomed. Soon he'd have a sign that he was in the right direction...

He hoped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOOOO!!! Finally free from the movie's sequence of events!!  
> I'm still figuring out how to pace the chapters so hopefully these aren't too badly broken up. Thanks so much for all the support so far!!


	5. Ace Of Cups Reversed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ace of cups(Reversed)- Creation of a deeper connection to another is being blocked. 
> 
> One Artifact lost, another is found. Jack learns of their importance and even more about himself.  
> The point of no return for the wayward nature spirit as his past finally seizes him.

Tooth’s feathers flared greatly once she finally got a direct signal from her fairies. She almost dipped in the air faster than a jet. 

“WOah!!! Slow down Tooth!!” Jack called out trying to keep up with her. 

Katherine had little issue but the clouds above her made her uneasy. Jack nearly forgot what he was brought along for, but when he realized it he stayed in the air. Tooth and Katherine landed on a small island in the middle of nowhere.

“There!!!” Tooth called out.

Katherine and Tooth soared over to a handful of ebony cages with beeping and squeaking fairies crammed inside like sardines. Tooth pulled her swords out and began slicing at the bars to try and free her fairies. Meanwhile Jack was watching the clouds. It looks like an overcast if he had to guess. Every spirit knew not to trust the weather fully, some weather or nature spirits could change it with the snap of their fingers. Jack obviously was one of them. The Triangle felt different however. Katherine and Tooth didn’t seem to feel it but the energy there felt portent. 

The last cage’s bars finally broke and all of Tooth’s fairies swarmed around her, happily chirping and rejoicing at their reunion.

“Oh thank goodness all of you are alright!” She sighed in relief, wiping her eye a little.

Katherine hopped around, moving her head around in suspicion.  
“This felt way too easy… Something doesn't feel right here…”

Almost on cue, Jack heard something faint within the clouds. He inched closer to hear it better, then got knocked out of the way by stampeding nightmares. All of them were headed right for Katherine and Tooth. Tooth cut her celebration short and turned her swords to the nightmares. 

“YOU ARE NOT STEALING THEM FROM ME AGAIN!!!” She roared. 

Tooth sliced through a nightmare like it was butter. Just as that one was decapitated, she wiped out another with her second sword. It was almost scary to see Tooth’s unbridled rage.She was merciless as nightmare sand practically stained her feathers like it was blood. 

Katherine tried her best to fend off the nightmares, but her new form proved hard to fight with. Just as a Nightmare charged at Katherine, the impact of the attack caused an explosion of black feathers to cover both her and the nightmare. Jack froze in place, watching carefully with hope she was okay. The Nightmare got practically tossed out of the feather cluster with great ease. The feathers scattered as Katherine launched herself out of it, her hair now tainted with the same shade of black as the feathers. 

“TOOTH HER TOME!!!” Jack called out.

Katherine spat out a feather, much to her disgust and pulled out what looked like a decently sized dagger. 

Tooth threw her tome at Jack and he just barely caught it before it could hit the rough waters below. When he looked over he was met with a surprise. Katherine’s dagger glowed brightly and had fresh stains of dark sand along the blade. The more Jack stared at her dagger, the more the background noise became nothing more than white noise. 

He quickly snapped himself out of it and yelled out to her.  
"CATCH!!" 

Katherine quickly sheathed her dagger and caught her tome. One of her muscles pulled a little on impact of her catching the fairly heavy book. She let out a strained grunt then steadied her stance. While she was trying to recover, a Nightmare suddenly rose up and lunged at her. 

"Duck!" Jack shouted as he shot a blast of ice at the lunging Nightmare. 

Katherine ducked and watched the Nightmare get frozen over into nothing but black ice. 

"Hoo....Thanks Jack for covering my back." 

"No problem."

"INCOMING!!!" Tooth yelled.

Two Nightmares managed to blindside Jack and knocked him into a rocky bluff right where the pile of black ice was. His back was going to be sore tomorrow, Jack could feel that without any doubt. He spat some of the sand out of his mouth and felt an odd tingling sensation on the palms of his hands. Turned out, his hands were resting on the pile of black ice. Jack quickly snatched his hands away from the mysterious substance and stared up at the sky. A loud boom of thunder could be heard not that far away and it certainly wasn't any spell that Katherine had cast. 

The Nightmares seemed to acknowledge it too and they all neighed at each other to retreat. Tooth sheathed her swords and quickly gathered her fairies safely.

"We need to get out of here and fast. AGH I wish I asked North for a teleporting snow globe.."

"Wouldn't do you much good Goose Feathers, magical objects like that don't exactly...work perfectly with all this nature magic around." Jack said stretching painfully.

Katherine sighed and flipped through her tome quickly to find a different summoning spell. With great haste she summoned a giant raven, this time without turning into one, and hopped up on its back.  
"Are you okay to fly Jack?" She asked.

Jack nodded.  
"Besides, I have to keep the winds from knocking you guys over. Nothing to it." 

And with that, the three set off into the sky with great urgency. Tooth's fairies flew close to her, they were brave fairies but all the stress they had been through made them skiddish. The thunder and lightning did them no favors.

"I think that's all of 'em North. Just got done combing through all the grass and not a single one is left out there."

North sighed and stretched his shoulders.  
"If we missed any I'm sure the fairies will find them..hopefully before any of us accidentally step on them." He chuckled with unease. 

Sandy lit up waving at Tooth, Jack and Katherine slowly descending to land near them. Katherine was the first to land. Her raven vanished and went back inside her tome after she thanked it for aiding her. Tooth nearly collapsed from exhaustion once she got to the ground. 

"Tooth!" Bunnymund called out. 

He rushed over to her and helped her back on her feet.  
"Were ya too stubborn to ask to sit on Katherine's raven???? You musta overworked yourself."

"I just really wanted to get my fairies back home..I couldn't really think about anything else. I didn't even realize how tired I was!" Tooth chuckled in embarrassment.

"Katherine..your hair its uh..." North said raising a brow.

Katherine turned bright red and sighed.

"Its just from the raven spell. It'll...change back. Eventually..."

"There's nothing wrong with it..its just... Different!" He chuckled and made his way over to Tooth.

Jack landed and was nearly knocked over by her swarm of fairies. The fairies sped over to some fresh water coming from one of the fountains, went right in to drink from it and wash off the salty air from their feathers. The happy noises they made felt like a sigh of relief for them and Tooth. She could finally relax just a little.

"Did either of you find the case...?" She said while resting on a nearby rock. 

North's smile faded and Tooth's feathers flared in surprise. Sandy floated over and solemnly handed her a ruby box. Tooth’s wings droop to the ground as she stared the empty ruby box in her hands. It looked drastically different than the other boxes the kid’s teeth were in. 

"...That's what he was really after....I should have known..."

Jack looked towards them in confusion,  
“What did he take?”

“A relic from Tsar Lunar. It was one of his baby teeth…”

The formal title for The Man In The Moon struck a slight nerve with Jack. He almost wanted to say ‘So what?’, but he knew that wouldn’t look empathetic. 

“Why is it so important?”

“Teeth hold very important memories of childhood Jack.. when the children need them the most, my fairies give them back so they can remember.”

She gestured to large murals nearby and Jack walked across the waters to look at it. 

“His were just as important...Everyone's memories are here.”

Jack perked up a little with a sudden thought.  
“Wait. Like. Even you guys?”

“Of course! They hold memories of who we were before we were chosen. We were all someone before this.”

North restrained a snicker.  
“You should have seen Bunny!-”

Aster glared at him and angrily whispered, “I thought I told you to never mention that!”

“Wait.. So maybe mine are here too..? I could’ve had a life..? A family???” His eyes were lit with excitement.

Tooth’s expression changed to be pitiful towards Jack.  
“You really don’t remember..?”

Jack bit his lip and stepped back a little. The mural they were looking at began to lose its color just like the towers above them. Tooth folded her wings back, feeling little strength to fly at all. North stepped forward in concern but she looks at him with a weak smile.

“I’ll be okay. Once my fairies are done sorting the teeth.. We can get back to getting the children’s teeth. Some of them still believe in me..I can feel it. I’ll just write little letters apologizing for being late is all..”

“Tooth, please don’t work yourself too much.” said Katherine.

“I’ll be okay. If anything we should be worried about the rest of the relics.” Tooth said as she sat back up straight.

“There’s more?” Jack inquired, “Are they from The Man In The Moon too?”

“Somewhat. They’re also from his parents.” North said, running his fingers through his beard in thought. 

“They’re some of the only things that can weaken Pitch.. ” Bunnymund commented.

He lowered himself to some fresh dirt and gestured to Jack to come over. He began to draw in the dirt with one of his fingers. First was a tooth. Then an...egg? He drew a sword and stopped for a second. 

“Did you forget one?” 

“No Mate. Its just. A little difficult.” Bunnymund sighed and began to draw what looked like a stick person. 

"First was the baby tooth of Tsar Lunar. It held some of the only childhood memories he had with his parents. The Golden Age. Then..The sword of his father, Tsar Lunanoff. Its made of some kind of metal that isn't like anything on the planet-"

"So a magic sword?" Jack said raising a brow.

"Yes a magic sword." Bunny grumbled then continued, "That is a metallic egg entrusted to me. It holds life creating light, the purest of all light. Another relic was Sandy's dreamsand but...I didn't really know hot to depict that with dirt."

"Could have used his actual sand." Katherine commented.

Sandy just wiggled his feet a little, helping some of the exhausted fairies reach perches to sleep on. He wasn't even aware a conversation about him was happening. 

"Okay... then what about that one?" Jack pointed to the rough looking figure of a person with a...stick?

Bunnymund's nose twitched and he leaned away from the dirt. He looked a lot more distant in his eyes and in tone.  
"The last one was Nightlight."

Ah.

"He-"

Jack held his hand up for him to stop.  
"It's okay. I've heard enough about him to have a general idea why he was important." 

Bunnymund wrinkled his nose and felt the urge to say something at him but bit his tongue. He had already blown up at the guy before, he didn't need to do it again.

"Long story made very short." North barged in, "Pitch took out one relic and stole another. He said something earlier about revenge. So we have a few ideas on what his goal is." 

Katherine looked at North, "Do you know where yours is? Your sword I mean."

"Of course I do! I left it with the Lunar Lamas." North laughed.

"Moon Llamas?" Jack said in confusion.

Tooth snorted a little. "No not quite. They are little men who serve Tsar Lunar. None of us really know how they got here or how they found out about him..but they're allies nonetheless." 

'Great.' Jack thought. 'More exposition and moon loving people.'

Bunnymund seemed just as pleased as Jack. "North can't you go get it yourself??? I have a feeling you're gonna drag us along with you to get it." 

North smirked. "Now where's the fun in that Bunny. Besides, you can use your tunnels this time!"

"Alright fair, but those guy are beyond irritating.."

"It's better if we travel in groups anyway. Who knows what would happen if Pitch attacked the Lamadry while North was getting the sword back." Katherine remarked.

Bunny sighed and stretched his legs. "Fine. I'm gonna find a tunnel to the Lamadry and meet you lot there. Will you be okay Tooth?"

"Yeah I'll be okay. I just need to get thing started here and I'll catch up with all of you." She smiled trying to reassure her friends. 

"We'll see you at the Lamadry Tooth." North said before going over to his sleigh. 

Jack watched everyone begin to set off and Tooth looked over at him.

"Aren't you going with them?"

"Oh. Uh. Yeah. Sorry Nobody really said anything to me so I just assumed.."

Sandy patted Jack on the back and lead him over to the sleigh. Jack looked back at Tooth and she gave him a warm smile before going to check on her fairies. 

The sleigh landed smoothly on the Himalayan snow while a light snowfall tickled the reindeer's noses. Some tried to eat a flake or two and it made North chuckle. 

"Good work all of you! When we're done here you can all finally rest back at the pole. Yes yes you'll get great dinners tonight promise!" He said petting each of their faces.

Jack stared up in awe at the sight before him. It was a simple palace made of Lapis Lazuli with some opalescent mosaics that could be seen from the outside. It was beautiful by every meaning of the word but yet..something about it felt off to him. Where did the feeling come from? Was it dread? Jack could barely comprehend the feeling. His chest tightened as if something bad was going to happen. 

North patted his shoulder and he snapped out of his train of thought.

"Little daunting at first I know. Just follow us. This will be over before you know it."

Oh how he wished North would be right. He stepped out of the sleigh with everyone and followed closely. Some Lamas stepped out and bowed respectfully to the guardians upon seeing them.

"Tsar Lunar notified us of your arrival Guardians. Welcome to the Lamadry."

The Guardians did a semi bow back in respect. Jack awkwardly followed suit.

The Lamas perked up at the sight of Jack and all smiled warmly at him.

"Oh! This must be the new guardian he has chosen! How exciting! Intriguing! " They said in excitement.

North quickly squeezed between them so Jack couldn't be crowded.  
"That is still is the works uh... We just need to get the sword and be on our way.. You can welcome Jack as a guardian another time.."

Jack anticipated them being disappointed, even just a little, yet their expressions didn't change. They just nodded, moved away from Jack and led the guardians inside. He looked at North with a slight smile as if to say thank you. North simply nodded back and continued on.

"You'll get used to them." Katherine whispered. "No matter what we do they move at their own pace and.. never seem to frown." 

"So that's what Bunny meant by frustrating." Jack rubbed his temple with a tired sigh.

They walked down a few halls and passed a few wall mosaics at a casual pace. Finally after what seemed to be forever to Jack, they reached a very open looking room. Different murals laid about the walls and a large golden tile sat in the middle of the floor. Of course it had a moon insignia from what he could see from the doorway. Then, Jack stopped in his tracks at the murals painted before him. North’s, a square, held the tale of an abandoned baby turned Cossack turned a yule warrior. Sandy’s, a golden circle showed his past as a star pilot and giver of good dreams. Tooth’s, a diamond, held her family’s tale and her transformation. Bunnymund’s, a triangle, showed his ties to the earth, the keeper of the egg relic and connection to easter. Katherine’s was a kite shape. Hers showed that she too was an abandoned baby. She was seen on her giant goose with book in hand and even showed her wielding a dagger bravely. It was so much to take in at once but it amazed him. All their stories were right there. 

Then his smile of awe faded. Right before him was a hexagon mural. Nightlight stood in the center of it. It showed him breaking free out of Pitch’s heart. Holding a baby…. In that same fragment of the mural, two figures that were depicted seemed scarily familiar. His mind flashed to his nightmare of the two regal parents. Their cries for him to protect their son seemed more clear than ever. Their bodies began to turn into shimmering dust, leaving not a trace of themselves behind. Jack wanted to scream but he felt utterly paralyzed. 

“Jack?” Katherine said in concern. 

The horrifying images finally left his mind and he could catch his breath again.  
“Sorry I-I must have spaced out…”

He glanced back up at the mural..uncertain of what it all meant. He had visions of whoever those people were… But why? Why did it keep happening? Did he know those people in some sense?  
Nightlight wouldn’t give him an answer. He was just a mural after all. 

He tried to shake the sense of dread off and rejoined the group and peeked over to see what North was doing. 

The golden tile reacted to their presence and began to rise up out of the ground. Inside, two blades slowly rose up and floated in the air. One was a sword that was magnificently gold but had a powerful aura to it. North smiled and carefully took it from the magical essence that kept it safe. North’s hand welcomed it like an old friend and he swung it around a little for good measure before putting it inside it’s scabbard.  
All that was left floating was a small dagger. It was the same size as the one Katherine had used in Bermuda except it had no sheath at all. It's blade was a sight to behold, yet no one stood up to take it. They felt unsure about removing it all. 

“What is that..?” Jack whispered.

“One of Nightlight’s daggers.. It was made from the tears of Tsar Lunar…”

Jack felt all his attention shift to the dagger. Anything the other guardians were whispering slowly turned into white noise for him. He couldn’t even think straight while in the presence of it. It felt like it was calling out to him.

“Jack..?” North whispered.

No response.  
Jack had only one thought on his mind.  
He needed to touch the dagger. The glow of the dagger captivated his very mind and it got just a little brighter as he leaned closely.  
Jack dropped his staff and started walking towards the floating dagger without any second thoughts.

“Jack?! Mate what are ya doin?!” Bunnymund cried out, trying to get Jacks attention.

He tried to touch Jack’s shoulder but Jack acted as if Bunnymund wasn’t even there. 

“The blokes in some kind of trance!” He said uneasily. 

The guardians all tried to say something but it was too late. Jack reached the center of the golden sphere and grabbed onto the dagger. The moment his fingers wrapped around the dagger, objects surrounding him began to glow in sync with the dagger. First the dagger itself, his eyes, the tip of North’s sword and finally; the moonstone around Katherine’s neck. 

“Whats happening?! Jack!!! Snap out of it!!” Katherine yelled.

She tried to run towards him but a wall of ice erupted from the floor and curled around Jack. More began to form, completely engulfing him in a sort of protected ice sphere. The Lamas all whispered among themselves and had their gaze fixed on Jack.

Jack opened his eyes and the Lamadry was nowhere to be seen. No murals, no statues, no lamas… and no guardians..

“Hello??” Jack called out.

He was in almost complete darkness. He tried walking around and the “floor” beneath him felt….  
Wet?  
Out of curiosity, he reached down to touch it. It was very murky looking water that refused to freeze upon his touch. It would have been neat to him if it was under different circumstances. 

“Where am I…?” Jack whispered while trying to get a good look of what was around him. 

Floating above him was a glowing icy blue gem shard. The closer he got to it, the more brightly it glowed. By force of habit, he reach over to use his staff to get it down. 

“Oh. I guess it didn’t make it here with me...wow. Feels weird without it…” Jack rubbed the hand he usually held it in. 

Jack then fixed his gaze back onto the shard. He reached towards it, feeling no wind to boost him or no ice to lift him beneath his feet. The shard however reacted to him and slowly moved towards his hand and brushed up against it. It felt...warm and cold at the same time. 

'What an odd little thing to exist in a void.' He thought.

Once he touched it, the shard began to display imagery from inside it. There he was swooping and saving Katherine from nightmares and there he was looking at the odd black ice left in Bermuda. The shard’s vision faded and it went back to glowing brilliantly. 

“That’s from today!” Jack exclaimed. 

Jack let it float out of his hands and watched as that one shard showed him dozens of others just like it. It looked like a night sky lit up with brilliant shards. 

“All of those must be my memories..” Jack deduced. 

He never quite realized how many he had until they were all floating above him. Just then, a realization hit him like a truck. If his memories were all here before him..were the ones from before he was Jack Frost, existed there too? Once he finally pried his eyes away from the brilliant memory shards above him, he saw a faint glow in the watery floor beneath him. A memory was all the way down there? 

Jack dropped to his knees and hesitated for a second. His hand shook only a little as he held it above the murky water. If this was his memories then what was he afraid of..? He bit his lip and reached into the water on the count of 3. It was thicker than it looked and it felt hard to move his hand at all. There was no going back now. Jack held his breath, dunked his head into the water and dived inside. He looked above him, the shimmering memory shards were still visible but barely. There wasn’t any option but to swim down to the shard that called out to him. 

He didn’t swim very often but he had an idea of how to swim. He just propelled himself using his arms as best he could. The shards in the sky were getting farther and farther away with each passing stroke. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see other shards floating in the water. Their glow was pathetic compared to the ones he first saw.

‘What happened to those memories..?’ Jack wondered. 

“Save him!!!” Jack heard someone scream below him.

It sounded so eerily familiar that it gave the winter spirit goosebumps. The brightly glowing memory shard was very close now. He heard the woman’s voice get louder the more he swam to it. The only other thing besides her voice that he could hear, was the sound of his heartbeat. 

‘This is connected to me… Nothing can hurt me here..’ Jack tried to internally repeat to himself. 

The fear of something staring back at him was at the front of his mind and Jack wanted to push it back as far as he could. Jack outstretched his arm to the glowing shard, hoping he could just touch it and get out of the murky depths as soon as possible. Much to his horror, a hand emerged from the shard and latched onto his own with immense strength. Jack tried to scream but the water silenced any noise he tried to make. He jerked his body in any direction he could, desperately trying to get the hand to let go of him. With great force, the hand yanked Jack towards it. A second hand emerged and grabbed onto his jacket.  
Finally, the hands pulled Jack completely into the shard. It’s light nearly blinding him as the last thing he saw were those blue hands dragging him in..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its finally here!!!  
> The next chapter will be up sometime within the week. This was supposed to be a double update but you'll just have to wait a little bit longer for the next update. You'll see what happens before New Years. I can guarantee that. I hope you guys liked this! Thanks so much for the continuous comments and kudos I really appreciate it.
> 
> See you soon!!


	6. Judgement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judgement- Rebirth, Inner-calling, Absolution, Karma , Causality
> 
> Finally Jack gets the answers he was seeking and yearning for so badly...But at what cost? After everything he's learned he soon realizes maybe the people he thought he could depend on, couldn't give him what he needed.

Jack slowly opened his eyes and it took them a moment or two before they could fully adjust to the area around him. He could hear fighting… swords clash with each other.. The air was cold but not enough to bother him. Once his vision focused, he realized he was on some sort of ship. He caught a glance at his reflection and his signature blue hoodie was gone! It was replaced with a black bodysuit with lightweight armor that made him feel almost like a knight. It wasn’t exactly like a Knights but.close enough. In the center of his chest piece were familiar looking stones. Jack didn’t get to examine it too closely as he could hear a familiar scream nearby.

“______ where are you?!” A Man’s voice called out.

He was sure they said a name but..he couldn’t make it out. Maybe they were referring to him..? So many thoughts rushed to his head that it almost paralyzed him. He sucked in a deep breath and flew to where he heard the yell. The sight alone sent chills down his spine.

There was a man and a woman, both regal looking and armed with glorious looking swords. They were the people of his dreams..the ones begging him to save their son.

‘I knew it…’ Jack thought, ‘ They’re pieces of my past!! But...if this is like the dream-’

Jack’s attention then was honed in on the sword the man carried. It was exactly like the one North claimed at the Lamadry. They were…

“Tsar Lunanoff!” A moonbot called out, “They are breaking through our defences! What are we to do?!”

The Tsar looked at Jack then at the Moonbot, “Give me just a moment. I’ll join the rest of you.”

‘They’re….they’re the people on Nightlight’s mural… I’m connected to them?!’ His thoughts were going a million miles per second. It was almost overwhelming.

He could see they were possibly saying his name but it felt like he was partially deaf whenever they said it. Did he just not remember his name? Why couldn’t he hear it???

The Tsarina unwrapped a cloth bundle in her arms and revealed she was carrying a baby.

“Please...Go deep into the clipper and save him. We don’t have much time. Please N…… He is all that we have and all we ever will be.”

He could hear more of the name now. Only a smidgeon. It was close to what they said in his dreams. He reached out and accepted the baby from the Tsarina. He had a round face and somewhat pale complexion. The baby smiled at Jack like he recognized him. Before Jack’s thoughts could delve further, his body and mouth moved on its own. He bowed his head towards the Tsar and Tsarina and said;

“I will. I swear.”

His voice alone startled him. It was lighter, somewhat layered and had a faint echo to it. It was...ethereal if he had to put a word to it. Once again it moved on its own and he flew inside the moon clipper. He managed to look back at the couple one last time before delving into the depths of the clipper.

“Toot toot?” The baby babbled while pulling on a stand of Jacks hair.

“Holy shit-” He stopped mid air in surprise.

His hair was long enough to hang in his face somewhat. In a panic he kept flying further in the clipper. He had to take care of this baby first before anything. His body flew to a nursery and laid the baby down inside his impressively decorated crib. Jack stared down at the child as he looked back at Jack in confusion.

“You’re The Man In The Moon...aren’t you. I know you can’t actually answer me but..” Jack sighed and leaned against the wall.

“Everything is pointing me into the idea that we knew each other. Barely but.. I was important to you right..? I was trusted to keep you safe? It was on the mural so clearly you know about it..So why… Why?! WHY?!” His shouts were enough to cause baby MIM to start to cry.

Jack winced at his wail and hesitantly ran over to his crib with a sad smile on his face. He wiped the baby’s tears with his fingers.  
“I’m sorry...I shouldn’t be taking it out on you. Not this version of you… You’re just a baby right now. Whatever happened here isn’t your fault.”

Baby Mim smiled at Jack and Jack returned it with a tired smile of his own. Mim’s tears all slid down his fingers and collected in the center of his palm. Then something incredible happened.  
The tears froze and grew into an opalescent blade. It’s hilt looked like dark colored ice. It was the exact blade he saw in the Lamadry.. He held it firmly in his hands and stared deeply at the blade.

Mim made some happy coos and Jack glanced back over at him.  
“I’m guessing you don’t have magic tears huh…”

He sighed and looked into his empty palm. Golden sand started to materialize and his hand moved on its own to sprinkle it over Mim’s head.

‘Is that why Sandy said I have a tolerance for dream sand..? I could make it and use it..?’ Jack pondered.

“Remember me in your dreams..” Jack said, his voice sounding ethereal again.

His body didn’t need to move on its own for him to know where he was supposed to head. The last part of his nightmare that hadn’t come true yet was the darkness. Something was supposed to happen to him involving darkness or falling into it. Jack stopped in his tracks before reaching the opening onto the deck.

Everything the memory had been showing him pointed him to only one conclusion about his former identity..it.  
It wasn’t easy to swallow.  
He took one look at his reflection and nearly dropped the dagger at the mere sight of himself. His skin was now a light blue that had its own luminescence.. His face looked younger as well, probably that of a 13 or 15 year old if he had to guess. Jack’s hair was longer and it’s waves moved on its own.  
Even his eyes were different..no trace of blue in the strange green looking back at him.

“I’m… I was…” He reached out and touched his reflection with his bare hand.

“I was Nightlight..” Everything in him wanted to break at once. He nearly dropped to his knees and just wanted to scream. Not in fear or anger.  
He wanted to lament.

‘Not yet.’ He could hear his thoughts say. ‘Get out of here..then we can finally get all the answers we need..’

He staggered onto his knees and wiped his face in a desperate attempt to collect himself. The memory wasn’t done with him yet. He could return to his true body soon...He just. Had to push on.  
With a shaking breath, he swallowed his tears into a lump in his throat. He pushed it back as much as he could then looked towards the entrance to the deck. Jack closed his eyes one more time, sucked in a deep breath and exhaled as he walked out. There were broken moonbots littering the deck. A good number of them were still functioning but were held captive by creatures in the darkest shades of black he’d ever seen.

“We’ve hid him away. Your attempts to locate him are futile.” Jack could hear the Tsar spit out.

Jack peeked over the chests he snuck over to and got a view of what was holding Tsar and Tsarina captive. At first it was a horrifying looking abomination straight out of Lovecraft’s nightmare.

“Oh please Lunanoff...I can sense his dreams.. I know exactly where he is…” It spoke with a hauntingly familiar voice.

Jack’s body stood up and shot in front of the doorway to the lower decks. He had sliced some of the nightmare men cleanly in half with his dagger. Its light glowed brightly with a determination to protect Mim. The abomination looked towards Jack and laughed.

“I wondered where you ran off to little light.. Allow me to present myself in a more symbolic manner…” The mass’s form changed drastically. It started to form a more humanoid shape..that of an incredibly tall man. His clothes were that of some kind of a general’s and his black hair was slicked back but it still moved similar to how Jack’s did. His eyes were colored like two eclipses starting into him.

“Pitch Black…”Jack whispered in shock.

“Mhmm. Well well..the light remembers me.” Pitch said smugly. “As you can see Light, your masters are my captives.. Just one word and they could be killed by my will. Or sucked dry of every emotion they possess… I could spare them if you hand over yourself and your little prince.”

His shadow men snickered with their king and the Tsarina defiantly screamed out to Jack.  
“DON’T!!! IT MATTERS NOT WHAT HAPPENS TO US! REMEMBER YOUR OATH!”

“SILENCE!!!” Pitch roared.

“It's your choice little Light.” He said with a smirk.

Jack’s heart sank into his stomach.  
‘This is the darkness I have to sink into...isn’t it.’ He looked over at The Tsar and Tsarina and recalled their fate in his nightmares, ‘You’ll be turned into stardust...but now I know you’re just willing to accept that….but it doesn’t make this any easier.’

He gripped his dagger and changed his stance.  
“I’m sorry.” He managed to say towards the Tsar and Tsarina.

Then Jack shot himself off the deck of the clipper and straight into Pitch. His dagger was held out in front of him to stab Pitch and he could hear his hellish scream upon impact. A powerful blast of light emerged and nearly blinded Jack. The last thing he could see over his shoulder was the blast vaporizing the Tsar and Tsarina, who both held each other tightly. Then just as quickly as the light showed up. Darkness began to swallow him whole. He saw the moon getting farther and farther away from him as he sunk deeper into the pit of darkness. He wanted to scream for help. To make it stop.

But nobody came.

Jack did a sharp gasp as he opened his eyes. He was back in the murky waters with the glowing shard in his hand. The feeling of fear completely took over him as he tried to frantically propel himself towards the surface. He stuffed the shard into his hoodie pocket and strained himself to keep moving.

‘Don’t look below you.’ He repeated in his head.

The openness of the waters and the idea of something in the vastness scared the living hell out of him. He could barely see the light from the above but he was determined to get up there. Every muscle in his body was aiding him in his escape. The water’s thick texture made it a struggle. The urge to cry out was immense but the waters made it impossible for any sound to come out of him.

Then he saw something from the surface. A hand had stuck itself into the water reaching for him. It was trying to help him! Jack pushed his body to its limits and made a desperate attempt to reach out to it. He latched onto that arm for dear life as another hand forced itself into the thick water. It latched onto Jack and tried with all its might to pull him out. Once his head was freed the rest of him slipped out with ease.

He just laid on his side on the surface. His body shook intensely as it tried to readjust to the pressure difference. Everything that he had experienced just sort of hit him at once.. He didn’t know if he wanted to scream, cry, thrash or anything.. He was just numb and staring into the distance.

That was until he realized someone was there with him. He jerked his head up to see a boy sitting across from him, he had the same hands that pulled him free from the waters...and the ones that pulled him into the memory shard.

“You’re…” Jack tried to speak, still trembling.

The boy smiled,  
“Hello Jack.” His voice was exactly like the memory had depicted it.

“Nightlight..” Jack whispered in pure shock.

“Yes and No.” Nightlight said as he moved closer to Jack. “I’m your mind giving you someone to talk to.. Hello.” He said again.

Jack huffed and lowered his head back onto the ground.  
“I’m talking to myself is that it?”

“On all levels yes. You were just through a lot… You shouldn’t be alone to process it all.” Nightlight said.

He laid down beside Jack on his back. Jack wordlessly gazed into the abyss below them, thoughts swirled in his head.  
“Ironic..”

“Hm??” Nightlight glanced at him.

“That the answers were in me all along..That The Man In The Moon didn’t have to lift a finger.. He..He could have told me..He could have told me who I was..” Jack hiccuped as he tried to swallow his tears again.  
“I’m sorry everything is so jumbled up I can’t think straight..”

“I don’t expect you to. It’s okay to not be okay right now. That.. was a lot to learn..” Nightlight looked at Jack with empathy.

Jack turned onto his back and stared up at the twinkling sky above them. It was then that he remembered the memory he just reclaimed. He reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out the brightly glowing memory shard. Nightlight sat up a little and smiled at it warmly.

“It’s not our happiest memory…”

“Clearly, but why are you smiling at it?”

“It was the last time we saw everyone. Fulfilled the oath and kept him safe.. It was our beginning in a way.”

Jack solemnly brushed the surface with his finger.  
“Yeah.. I guess.. It still doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me so it doesn’t mean as much maybe?” He sighed. “I got my answers but yet I’m still so fucking lost.”

Nightlight reached for Jack’s shoulder and placed his hand on it. His touch was warmer than Jack’s. It felt like the sunlight was on his shoulder warming him. It was comforting in a sense. Jack looked at Nightlight then back at the shard. Both their hands held it and they slowly raised it up to join the other memories above them.

Nightlight looked at Jack, his face was clearly numb and he stared off into space. He waited for a little bit for Jack to process his thoughts.. Then he broke the silence.

“How did you become me? Do you know?”

Nightlight stiffened.

“It’s down there. Isn’t it.”

Nightlight shook his head.  
“No. Thankfully. They were broken a long time ago but the pieces floated to the surface.”

He reached into a pocket and pulled out pieces of a broken memory shard.  
“You may look if you desire. You won’t be sucked into this one like the other. It's far too broken to have that kind of power.”

Jack took a deep breath and took the shards from Nightlight. Light projected from a shard in between his fingers and showed him a piece of that memory. It showed him flying above a battlefield. The guardians were screaming at him for something.

“They wanted us to turn back. The battle raged on to keep us safe from Pitch’s clutches.”

Jack glanced over at him.  
“That was after you-I-we?? Lost our powers right??”

Nightlight nodded.  
“We were much easier to kill.”

Jack held up another piece and it showed him Katherine kissing him before he flew off. That piece gave Jack some conflicted feelings and he tried to make the visage go away.

“I. Had a feeling you- AGH.Sorry. That we used to be involved like that...From the way she spoke about it. I just really don’t want to think about that right now.”

Nightlight nodded in understanding.

The next piece showed Pitch chasing after him, fighting him with blades. It showed Pitch being stabbed just before fading completely.

Nightlight frowned.  
“That is my least favorite piece..”

Jack reached under his hoodie and gazed down at his stomach. The dark scar on his abdomen made sense to him then. It was from Pitch. It was a reminder of what ended his previous life and the start to his new one. Jack didn’t know how to feel about it at all. He raised the shards up and they weakly flew up as high as they could to the other shards. They didn’t glow as bright but did their best.

“I was important.. Wasn’t I?”

“You still are Jack! Of course!”

Jack looked towards the dark floor beneath them.  
“Then why did he do this to me..to you..to us..? I got the feeling from that shard from the depths.. That I meant a lot to Mim. Maybe he loved me and I him… Was I just made to clean up the mess he made and got us in?! Is that all I’m here for..?”

Nightlight frowned and got in front of Jack.  
“I don’t know why he did it. Why he chose us to rise again and why he didn’t do anything to help us-”  
Nightlight’s shoulders lowered and he looked away from Jack.  
“He didn’t even tell them.. He raised us and didn’t even tell our friends… my friends.”

Jack could feel tears running down his face just as it looked like Nightlight was crying. He could feel everything he was intensely feeling in that moment. Like it or not..Nightlight was a part of him. His beginning. His past. Despite it all, Mim threw both of them away and picked them back up. How was that fair?

“I’m going to tell them. I’ll tell them everything.”

Nightlight smiled at Jack and wiped his tears.

Tooth flew in as fast as she could and gasped when she saw the state the Lamadry was in. The Guardians were all huddled around Jack’s ice walls as he remained still inside. His eyes were still glowing as bright as ever along with the other relics and Katherine’s necklace.

“Tooth!!” Katherine called out.

She ran to her and hugged her.  
“What happened..?”

Bunnymund sighed.

“Jack touched Nightlight’s dagger and has been in this state ever since. No matter what we do his ice won’t break. An’ nothin will wake him up either.”

Tooth buzzed over to the Lunar Lamas.

“Sorry to bother you all but..do you have any idea what this means??? Any of it?”

The Lamas all had smiles bigger than usual. They seemed most excited, so much so they could barely contain themselves.

“Oh Queen Toothiana, it is a marvelous occasion! The first guardian has finally awakened within himself!”

“I’m sorry what?” North called out stepping towards the Lamas. “Jack isn’t the first guardian, it was Nightlight.”

The Lamas whispered among themselves.  
“He never told the guardians..?”  
“Oh dear how troublesome.”  
“They will be excited when they hear the truth! Yes yes!”

“What the bloody hell are you lot talking about?!” Bunny demanded. He looked ready to swing at any of them if they just blinked wrong.

The Lamas cleared their throats and took a minute before any of them spoke.  
“Sir Jack Frost Is Nightlight.”

The Guardians all fell silent.

“Surely all of you could tell there was resemblance!”  
“He's older now yes, but still the boy of fun and bravery!”

Katherine stared at Nightlight’s mural and how it’s eyes were glowing with Jacks. Despite every thought telling her it couldn’t possibly be true.. What was happening with Jack had to be a sign that they were right.

“If he was Nightlight then why didn’t he remember us?! Why didn’t he come back to us?!” Bunny shouted.

“Something went horribly wrong.”  
“Tsar Lunar could not fix all of him.”  
“Now something is!! He will be back and all will be great again!”

Sandy used his sand to push the Lamas a little further away from his friends. What they were saying was clearly upsetting everyone so they needed to go talk over there.

“Thank you Sandy.” North said as he walked back with them to Jack.

Tooth’s wings drooped as she looked at the state he was in.  
“Could it be true..? Did Tsar Lunar revive him and didn’t tell us..?”

“I don’t know. Only one who might know for sure is Frost.” Bunnymund said as he touched the ice wall, “I hope he’s okay..”

Bunnymund pulled his hand back in surprise, the ice wall was turning into snowy mush!

“It’s melting!” North said while he jumped onto his feet. “Stand back!”

North then used his sword to cut through the softened wall, causing it to collapse.

“Oh good job North bury him why don’t ya.” Bunnymund hopped right to work.

Bunnymund dug through the snow and found Jack still out like a light. He pulled Jack out of the snow and checked quickly for a pulse..just in case.

“Phew.. Okay.. He’s still alive. He’s just still out of it.”

Jack’s eyes stopped glowing and they quickly shut. The mural and all the relics stopped glowing just as soon as Jack’s eyes did.

“It’s a sign my brothers!” They heard the Lamas call out. “He has returned to us!”

North got between the Lamas and the others.  
“So sorry friends but we really must be leaving. We can...celebrate later. He needs his rest.”

North signaled for the others to get Jack to the sleigh before the Lamas could catch up. Sandy conjured a sand cloud to carry Jack to the sleigh and they quickly ran out of the Lamadry as fast as they could. Sandy carefully put Jack down in the back seat and Katherine sat back there with Bunny.

“You sure he’s okay Aster..?”

“Don’t worry. He’s still breathing and everything. Whatever happened must have taken a toll on him.. Who knows how long he’ll be out.”

Bunnymund looked at Jack and couldn’t help but sigh.  
“If it's really true that he is Nightlight..gods I don't know mate.”

Sandy patted Bunnymund reassuringly.

“LETS GO BEFORE THEY ASK TO STAY FOR DINNER!!” North yelled out as he hopped into the sleigh.

Tooth quickly snagged herself a seat with Sandy and North got his reindeer to charge into the air. However..one of the guardian’s shadows remained. It stretched out from the snow and morphed until it resembled the form of a horse. The mare huffed and made haste to its master. The news it just overheard was worrying indeed.

Jack was still in the void, laying on his back with a version of himself just staring above them. He had no idea how long he had been there but he felt like he needed the quiet. The only noise other than his thoughts was the faint sounds of the water below him. It didn’t bother him so long as he refrained from looking there for too long. He wondered though. Why was it so dark there? Nightlight chuckled, he seemed to sense the questions popping up in his head.

“It’s been here for a long time. Ever since the battle on the lake I think. Maybe longer.. It was a lot smaller and harder to see at first.”

Jack turned to him, “Did Pitch do this?”

“Not quite. It houses all the lost memories of our past. The hurts. The anger.” Nightlight frowned, “I don’t think it will ever go away.. We can reclaim many things about ourselves but it will stay. Even in small forms.”

He looked at Jack but gave a tired smile,  
“Not all darkness is bad though. It makes you appreciate the light.” He said while looking up at all the new memories Jack made.  
“It’s gotten much brighter in here ever since Jack Frost was born.”

“Even if you don’t exist anymore, you’re still thankful for that..? Because of me you don’t-”

Nightlight shook his head. “I live on in you. No. I will never come back as much as everyone might want me to. You are what we have grown into. The decisions you make are yours.”

Jack smiled and looked back up at the sky.  
“Will the other guardians think that? Will they accept me as me?”

Nightlight sighed. “I hope they will. I can’t say for certain. They have much hurt in their hearts from what your memories show.”

“....What if...What if I don't want to be a guardian?”

Nightlight was quiet for a moment.

“That is up to you. If being a guardian hurts you too much then it should be up to you.”

“They said it was destiny, that I couldn’t say no.”

Nightlight let out a deep sigh. Jack couldn’t tell if he was annoyed or disappointed. It almost felt like both.  
“Ignore what they say. You are most important.”

A shift in the atmosphere caused Jack to sit up and get onto his feet. He looked around seeing the lights flicker and dim.  
“Whats happening?”

Nightlight rose to his feet calmly. “You’re waking up.”

Jack looked at Nightlight with worry, “Will I ever be able to come back..? Will I see you again???”

Nightlight smiled and put his hands over Jacks. “With practice you will whenever you want. I believe in you, in us.”

Everything around him started to turn into nothing but darkness and slowly so did Nightlight. Jack reached out for him and his words echoed through his mind. His body suddenly jolted itself awake as if it felt like he had been falling. Sandy nearly fell backwards in surprise when Jack suddenly sat up.

“Sandy!” Jack nearly toppled over from feeling light in his head but Sandy helped steady him. “Where are we..? Are we still at the Lamadry?”

Sandy shook his head no. He looked extremely relieved to see Jack was okay...but something seemed off about him. Maybe Jack was just imagining it, but Sandy seemed sad about something.

‘No. We are at The North Pole. You were asleep for a long time.’ Sandy signed.

“How long..?”

Sandy took a moment to think.  
‘Almost 12 hours I think. I lost count.’

Jack ran his hand through his hair and sighed. “That sounds about right… It felt like forever being stuck there..”

Sandy raised his brows and almost inquired what he meant but he shut his mouth. He knew the others would want to hear what happened, but he needed to know if Jack was willing to talk about it with everyone.  
‘Do you want to tell us? We were very worried about you.’

“Yeah...I think I’m ready. Just give me a second okay?”

Sandy nodded and floated out of the room to give Jack some privacy. Jack stretched and looked back at the bed they placed him in. Huh. He couldn’t recall the last time he slept in a bed.  
‘Maybe Nightlight slept in one once..that's where the strange familiarity is coming from.’

He couldn’t help but chuckle. Just a day ago he was scowling at effigies of Nightlight but there he was; feeling somewhat at peace of his past identity. Jack grabbed his hoodie and slipped it on with haste. Then he took the diamond dagger from between the bed sheets and raised his brows.  
‘I slept with this thing in the bed with me? Shocker that I didn’t cut myself.’ He thought.

There was no sheath for it, so Jack improvised on one made of ice and then slipped it into his hoodie pocket. After finally grabbing his staff he made his way out of the spare room and followed the noise of bustling yetis. They were happily working on various toys of all sizes and it didn’t take long before they noticed Jack was awake.

One of the yetis approached Jack and gestured to him to follow it.

“Hello to you too Phil.” Jack muttered while looking at the wonders around him.

Just at the center of the workshop, all the guardians were gathered there whispering to one another. All of them looked like they had just left a funeral. The air around them was heavy as a wet weighted blanket.  
Phil cleared his throat and all the guardians turned to him. Jack moved around Phil and walked over to them.

“Tooth! How are you and the fairies? You guys okay??” Jack asked.

Tooth bit her lip a little and slouched her shoulders.  
“Oh we’re doing okay. Exhausted but we’re caught up and keeping a steady pace. Thanks for asking.”

“You sure you’re okay..?” He glanced around at everyone sort of avoiding his gaze. “Did something happen while I was out..??”

Bunnymund looked at North, “Come on. Someone’s gotta tell ‘im.”

North sighed and leaned away from the table he sat on. “While you were unconscious...the Lunar Lamas said some strange things.. Things you might not take well.”

Jack folded his arms and raised his brows.  
“I’d rather hear it rather than be left in the dark.”

“Alright...They were saying that what happened at the Lamadry was your ‘awakening’ as the first guardian. As Nightlight.”

‘They.  
They knew????? Those lunar men knew?????? Did Mim tell them and not the guardians???????”  
Jack could feel his rage bubbling, but he had to keep his composure.

“Do you believe it?” Jack said, his tone was more casual than it should have been.

“What are ya talkin about mate?”

“Do you believe it's true that I was Nightlight.”

Katherine bit her lip and looked at the floor.  
“We don’t know. We were trying to make sense of it while you were out..”

Sandy glanced at Jack and then at the others with a worried look on his face. Jack’s expression was oddly blank. He wasn’t exploding with fury like everyone expected him to or him running off to process it. He was just standing there.

“Jack.. Are y-”

“-They were right.” Jack responded.

The guardians all felt their blood run cold. None of them knew how to respond right away.. They just stood there gawking at him.

‘How do you know that..?’ Sandy managed to ask.

Jack sat on a nearby table and rested his head onto his staff.  
“I saw it. The memory of the first battle with Pitch.. And pieces of the last one. All of you were begging us to not go off and fight him.” He pulled up the bottom of his hoodie and revealed the dark scar on his abdomen. “That’s how our body was damaged, or I guess killed.”

Sandy was taken aback and covered his mouth in shock. He had battled Pitch many times and gotten a few scars from him himself. There was no mistake of it, that scar was tinged with darkness from a shadow weapon.  
Katherine had a hard time looking at it. When she finally had enough she turned away from him to hide the tears welling up in her eyes. Jack pulled his shirt back down and looked at the guardians once more.

“Im..guessing The Man In The Moon didn’t tell you-”

“NO HE DIDN’T!!” Bunnymund finally broke, “IF HE DID, DON’T YOU THINK WE WOULD HAVE TRIED TO FIND YOU SOONER?!”

Jack winced a little at Bunny’s sudden outburst. Bunnymund realized what he had just done, he took steps away from Jack and tried to wipe his eyes as fast as he could.

“All that pain was for nothing...the memorial.. The suffering… I had a feeling you were a replacement at first but… that wasn’t it at all-”

“You thought I was what?” Jack got onto his feet and he furrowed his brows in anger.

“Jack, he’s trying to say we all saw some similarities between you and him..It was difficult.” Tooth tried to say reassuringly.

He looked hard at all of them. None of them were showing any signs of joy or even delight at the news.  
“Are you mad at me? What did I do..? I-I told all of you the truth..Are you disappointed I can’t remember everything-”

Tooth feathers folded back and she flew towards him,  
“No no no Jack that isn’t it at all.. We’re.. We’re feeling a lot right now.”

Jack balled his fists up and stepped away from Tooth, “Are you mad at The Man In The Moon..?”

“Yes.” Bunnymund sharply responded.

“Are you going to do something about it..? Are we gonna talk to him and ask why the fuck did he keep this from you guys?! From me?!”

“Jack!” North practically hissed, “That’s not how this works. We cannot simply message him. He sends messages to us. Unfortunately all we can do is continue our work and wait for a response-”

“THATS BULLSHIT!” Jack roared, “I’VE WAITED FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS FOR AN ANSWER! IF NIGHTLIGHT MEANT SO MUCH TO HIM WHY DID HE LEAVE ME IN THE DARK?! WHY DID HE LEFT ALL OF YOU TO GRIEVE OVER SOMEONE WHO WASN’T EVEN DEAD?!”

“Jack that's ENOUGH!!” Katherine yelled.

Jack caught his breath and realized the whole room was freezing over. An elf could have dropped a pin and they would have heard it perfectly. His fists were clenched so tightly that the skin around his knuckles were slightly turning a different color. He refused to let any tears fall from his eyes but a few stray ones were too hot to freeze on his cheek.

North wanted to reach out and just hold him close but he couldn’t move his body. He had no energy left to comfort anyone..not even himself. Jack pulled his hood up and turned away from all of them.

“I need some space.”

“Jack! What about your responsibility-”

Jack looked over his shoulder and glared at them with the intensity of an arctic wind..  
“I'm not a guardian.” Then flew out of the closest open window before any of them could stop him.

He flew for what felt like an endless amount of time. Not even the sight of the moon would stop him in his tracks, he just wanted to get away and be alone somewhere where no living being could bother him. Besides the occasional penguin maybe.  
Once he reached the south pole, he nearly collapsed. Jack managed to sit up and looked out at the snow plain before him. He trudged his way to a nearby cliffside and pulled out the diamond dagger from his pocket. In a way it felt comforting but then he remembered how it came from The Man In The Moon. It was HIS tears that made this blade. No matter the significance it held, he felt the urge to throw it as hard he could off the face of the cliff.  
It was all in vain. Even with all of his fury, he couldn't let go of the blade.

Jack sat down on the edge of the cliff with his staff resting by his other hand. He sighed and stared off at the arctic ocean. The only sounds that echoed around him were the howling winds and occasional cracks of ice.

He heard some cracks near him and glanced over to see if some of the cliff was going to break off..when he nearly shot back up in the air in shock. There was someone not too far from him.. Sitting on the cliff too.

“Wha…”

Jack reached for his staff and cautiously got to his feet.  
‘What the hell is Pitch doing here?!’

He looked over at Jack with an eerily calm expression.  
“Hello Frost. I had a feeling you’d come here. That this would happen..I thought maybe it was time we’d have a little chat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOOOOO ITS FINALLY HERE. This is a girthy one but I hoped you guys enjoyed it! Final update of 2020 is DONE. I can't say enough how much all the support for this fic means to me. We reached 500 hits from when I woke up this morning and it filled me with determination to get this chapter out today.  
> Happy holidays and Happy New Years everyone!


	7. The Chariot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THE CHARIOT.— Assistance and support in times of hardship and distress, providence; also war, triumph, presumption, vengeance, trouble. Reversed: Riot, quarrel, dispute, litigation, defeat.
> 
> "Revenge is a dish best served cold."

Jack stood there in the snow frozen in place, ‘Of course after I learn about my past HE shows up….. Does he even know..?’

Pitch smirked and got to his feet. To Jack's surprise, Pitch was the size of a normal human. No tricks or shape shifting.. How odd..  
“It’s alright Jack, I’m very aware of...the recent news-”

“-How?! You weren’t there! No one even spoke of you!”

Pitch sighed at how quickly defensive Jack got but kept on, “Oh please Frost. You think the guardians can sense when they’re being spied on? Besides, the relic I wield reacted to your ‘awakening’ at the Lamadry. Did they really think I wouldn’t notice?”

Pitch could feel the fear rising from Jack, he had no idea how much of his memory was restored.. So Jack could have easily remembered every battle between the two in his past life. He had to be cautious if he could help it.

“The guardians wouldn’t understand what you’re going through...but I understand.”

Jack’s anger reached a boiling point and his staff released bright ice blasts while he roared in the wind.

“YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING!!” The snow beneath him answered his call and charged at Pitch like a wave.

Pitch blew the ice blasts away from him with the help of his nightmare sand. Talking to a winter spirit in a place like Antarctica was no easy feet as they had the home advantage. Yet, Pitch persisted as he roared back through the howling winds.

“I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE CAST OUT?! TO NOT BE BELIEVED IN?!” The winds began to die and the snow settled. Jack saw Pitch standing nearby unarmed continuing,  
“To long for..a family.”

Jack lowered his staff and stared at Pitch with his mouth slightly agape. It was true, his words were resonating with him but the hesitation was still overwhelming. Jack kept his guard up but stayed quiet to hear Pitch out.

“I had a family once too, Frost. The memories of them can haunt my very being sometimes. I couldn’t save them no matter how much I wish I could-”

Images of the Tsar and Tsarina flashed in his mind as Pitch spoke. Jack tried to bury those feelings but it felt like too much. His emotional balloon was about to pop.

“Mine died trying to stop you.” Jack spat.

Pitch sighed and folded his hands behind his back.

“You remember that then.” He paused “…It’s true. I had no intention of killing them but I have no justification for what I did. I lost my wife and child before becoming who you see before you. I was a beast.”

Jack wanted to continue to doubt him but the tone of Pitch’s voice made it sound like he was being sincere. He wasn’t talking to the Lord of Nightmares , that was just Pitch. He had no nightmares ready to attack, for what nightmare could hide in the snow white tundra.

“Why are you here?” Jack asked as he stared into Pitch's silvery gold eyes.

Pitch took a half-step towards him "To talk. You don't have to be alone in this, Jack. All those years in the shadows I thought, no one else knew how I felt. But I was wrong. Learning you were Nightlight hurt you, didn't it? Part of you wanted to bury it and never look back. Isn't that right?"

Jack swallowed, "Yeah..." He trailed off, clenching a fist around his staff.

Pitch nodded, "I hoped it wasn't true. Not because the spectral boy was my 'mortal enemy,' but because of what The Man in the Moon's actions meant." He moved to the other side of Jack, “Surely you heard at least how he felt towards Nightlight, or you rather, how you were like a brother to him.”

Jack’s fists trembled in rage, overpowering the fear that Pitch’s presence elicited

“Somewhat…” Jack couldn’t help but see the hurt in Nightlight’s face when they spoke in his memories.

“Then tell me Frost, if the guardians claim he loved you, then why would he abandon you?”

“That's what I’ve been asking,” Jack grumbled through his teeth.

Pitch stood in front of him and stifled a chuckle.

“It's sad really. Think of it like this Frost, Jack. Who wants to play with a broken toy? He broke you trying to fix Nightlight and dumped you into the world without a second thought when it didn’t work..” Pitch leaned closer, “Until you got just enough power to be useful to him again.”

Everything Jack tried to swallow for the whole day almost came pouring out. Cold tears managed to get past his best efforts and froze onto his cheeks. Pitch restrained his face from smiling at the sight. He remained quiet and glanced away at the weeping winter spirit until just the right moment.

Pitch placed his hand on Jack’s shoulder and gave him a half smile.

“Oh, but Jack.. You are far from broken.” Pitch gestured to the massive black ice structure behind them, “Look at what we can do!”

Jack staggered to his feet and walked towards the twisting sculpture. It felt like any other piece of ice, except for its core. Something felt off, it felt dark yet unbothered by the light around it. He wiped frozen tears from his cheeks and nearly fell backwards seeing the guardians inside the ice. They stood with his reflection, but turned away with grief stricken faces.

Pitch stepped forward, surprised at the sight inside. "Interesting," He muttered. "The nightmare sand shows you what you dread most.. I wonder what they're saying behind your back.”

Jack straightened and glanced at Pitch. "Didn't you say you had an 'agent' spying on them?"

The Nightmare King barely contained a victorious smile. "Indeed I did. Would you like to listen in on them?"

"Yes," Jack answered, cold eyes turned back on the ice.

Pitch internally communed with the hidden nightmare, then reflected whatever she heard into the black ice.  
‘Do not miss a single detail.’ He told her.

Jack watched the sculpture intently when he noticed the guardian’s mouths began to move.

Tooth spoke first, "What are we going to do now?"

Her tone sounded no different than Jack remembered from the North Pole.

"We shouldn't go looking for him yet. He wants to be alone," Katherine muttered. "So let him be alone."

"Who knows what he could be doin,'" Bunnymund scoffed, his ever-present accent cutting through sharply, "Not that we helped at all."

"I think we should look for him at some point, Night.." Tooth paused,"He used to be a relic. He could still be one now."

"She's right," North spoke up. "Who knows what could happen if he fell into the wrong hands."

Jack grit his teeth as his rage boiled over. The tears sliding down his face didn't freeze, they were too hot with anger to be contained by mere temperature.. Pitch saw them glistening and stepped away from Jack. Nature spirits were unpredictable after all and unpredictability meant danger.

“I don’t want to hear anymore.” Jack growled.

As quick as they appeared the guardian’s reflections slowly faded from view, leaving Jack with nothing but boiling rage in their wake. Of course they would dead name him. Of course they would treat him like nothing but a tool.  
'Or a broken toy,’ a voice whispered through Jack’s mind.

Then out of nowhere Jack saw the visage of someone that he had never seen before. He had light blonde hair with a lone strand curling above his head and a round face. He was dressed in a similar fashion that the Tsar and Tsarina did in his memories. Then he saw them… the moon insignias.

“The Man In The Moon..” Jack whispered.

Mim stared back at Jack with a similar conflicted expression. The pity reflected in Mim’s eyes was too much for Jack to bear witness to. All of his swallowed emotions came bursting forth at once. His fury, his rage.. His Hatred.

Yes. That’s what he’d call it.

His hatred fueled him to punch the visage of the man who put him through hundreds of years of torture. The man who failed him. With all he put Jack through, could he even be called a man? The impact of Jack’s fist on the black ice caused a loud reverberation in the ice to screech out before it collapsed. The snow beneath his feet was beginning to stain with the blood dripping from his knuckles. The furious winds roared around them as Jack’s rage was peaking. Pitch glanced beneath his feet and saw the ice beginning to crack.

‘He doesn’t have it in him to destroy this whole island, but his powers like this are so breathtaking.’ Pitch smirked while he watched Jack let his frustration out on the wind and ice.

Just as Pitch expected, Jack slowly dropped back onto the ground and allowed the winds to die down. The eeriest part was the snowfall had completely frozen in place. Jack didn’t care to let it fall. Everything around him felt like nothing but pure static. His hands tingled but at the same time he couldn’t really feel them.

‘What’s happening to me..?’ Jack thought.

Pitch walked over and placed a hand on Jack’s shoulder. The simple touch was enough to ground Jack and snap him out of it.  
Curiously, the snow started to fall again.

Jack slowly rose to his feet and turned to Pitch. He felt unsure what to say to him after everything that had just happened. The man that stood before Pitch looked almost completely numb.  
Just what he was planning on.

Pitch’s face was painted with sincerity as he spoke, “Did that feel good to let it out?”

Jack shrugged, “Sort of? I don’t know…” He trailed off, unsure what to say.

“It’s okay to say it did Jack. You’ve bottled that up for so long I bet. The guardians shut it down every time you let some of it out, didn’t they?”

“They were afraid of me, of what I’d do if I lost control.”

Pitch clicked his tongue in annoyance, “Typical of them. To be scared of someone more powerful than them.”

Jack looked up at Pitch in mild confusion.

“Oh yes Jack, I didn’t stutter. You aren’t a guardian, you aren’t tethered to children for power. It’s absolutely mesmerizing to witness.”

Jack didn’t know exactly how to take that. Pitch was right of course, he’d been right about more things than Jack realized. It was just something that felt hard to swallow at first.

“What will you do now Jack? Surely not go back to the guardians I assume.”

“No.” Jack hissed out quicker than Pitch expected. “I’m not going back to anyone who supports him blindly like that, talks about me as if I'm nothing but a tool or treats me like some CHILD!!” Jack huffed and took a moment to catch his breath.

Pitch gave him that moment. “Excellent.” He smiled as he moved to Jack’s side, “The truth hurts, but you took it better than I thought you would. You do truly deserve to have a place where you are respected as an equal."

Jack raised a brow, “Where are you going with this?”

Pitch chuckled, and extended his hand towards him, “Jack, I want you to to be my ally. Not as a tool or a servant, but my equal.”

Jack’s eyes widened and he felt the blood in his body stop only just for a moment. He glanced down at his own bloodied hand.  
“You’re just willing to forget hundreds..possibly thousands of years of battles? What we did to each other..?”

“Do you remember Jack?”

He glanced away for a moment, “Not entirely. Just bits and pieces… I remember the first battle between us. And the last.”

Pitch nodded and paced a little as he spoke.  
“I see. Then I understand your hesitance,” Pitch stopped and turned to Jack, “You have 3 paths you can take from here Jack." He held up a finger. "You could go back to the guardians, be the man they want you to be and bribe children with snow days. Then maybe you’d get noticed by The Man In The Moon after a decade or two.." Then he held up another finger, "You could go back to the way you were before. Alone, drifting from place to place making a mess wherever you go.”

He then held up one last finger, “Or. You can join me, and I can show you a world that none of those moon puppets know about. Where you would never be ignored again. Where you’d be believed in not just by humans...but by me. I believe in you Jack.”

Jack could feel his heart pounding loudly in his ears and a few drops of sweat rolled down the corner of his face. His hands shook as he wiped off the frozen beads of sweat on his face. No one was going to teleport to him and tell him what the right answer was. The Man In The Moon wasn’t going to suddenly acknowledge him, say how sorry he was and beg Jack not to make a big mistake.

He didn’t want to be alone anymore. The Guardians made him feel alone in more ways than one, although mostly by accident. If he joined them, he knew for sure it wouldn’t be perfect. He’d be miserable and bottle up his emotions all over again.  
Then there was Pitch’s offer.  
He had no way of knowing what would happen if he took Pitch’s hand. Despite everything in the books of their past, Pitch could look Jack in the eyes and see Jack for who he was now. Pitch was giving Jack what The Guardians and Mim never did.  
A choice.

Without a second thought, Jack seized Pitch’s hand and stared him directly in the eyes.

“I’m in.”

\----------  
Moonbots laid scattered around the dusty lunar surface. Some were partially frozen and others were mysteriously corroded in parts of their dismembered bodies. A boomerang lifelessly sat in splinters near the rusted clipper's entrance. Deep inside the metallic center, The Man In The Moon desperately tried to hide behind a few broken pillars from the monster that invaded his home. His friends...his guardians…  
He couldn't save a single one.

Mim slowed his breathing and tried to focus on his last objective.  
Get off the moon.  
If he showed any fear, the monster would surely get him with merciless ease. With a deep breath, he tried to quietly move through the tunnels but nearly lost it when he saw the tortured remains of his beloved friends.

'I'll come back for all of you, I swear on it. If I revive any of you now they'll kill you.. Please forgive me.' Mim choked back his tears and hesitantly proceeded.

His heart dropped to the pit of his stomach when he felt someone's hand seize his foot.  
With urgency, Mim kicked his foot up and turned to see what it was. The bodies were the only thing by his feet and none of them looked like they moved.

Mim's body trembled, 'Oh god.. I-I'm hallucinating now..'

That's when he heard it.  
The sound of multiple voices chuckling, accompanied by footsteps. Mim had no other choice but to run as fast as he could through the halls. He was so close to the exit...He didn't even dare look behind him, for he knew they were closing in on him. Once he opened the door he would be home free. A shooting star would aid his escape and he'd lose them. This was the only hope he had left.

Mim made it to the moon's final gate and practically rammed it open.  
To his dismay, there wasn't any shooting star to rescue him. What stood there waiting for him was an incomprehensible mass of darkness with outstretched arms ready to snare him. All of it's golden eyes fixed on Mim but it did not move. Instead something was emerging from the monster, a familiar pale face.

"J-Jack.." Mim stuttered.

Jack's eyes were almost like glass, cold and unfeeling. The only thing Mim could see in the winter spirit’s usually lively and sparkling eyes was his own horrified reflection.  
The darkness recoiled for a moment at a mysterious light source behind him. Mim knew it couldn't have been a guardian..so who was it?

He turned to see that the spectral boy from his childhood memories stood behind him armed with his trusty diamond dagger.

"Nightlight!" Mim cried out in relief.

The dread returned when he realized Nightlight wore the same expression as Jack.

"Did you forget..?" Both Jack and Nightlight's voices layered over one another as they spoke in unison, creating a deathly eerie echo. "You did this. You broke us. You.Hurt.Us."

Mim tried to sputter out a response but the shadow entity flung out inky black tentacles to coil around his arms. The entity cackled as it pulled him down to the ground.  
Jack and Nightlight stood over Mim, each armed with a blade. He could see nothing but the golden monstrous eyes relishing in his torture, and the fractured versions of his guardian.

"Jack-Nightlight please stop!! You're scaring me!" He pleaded.

"Too bad." They flatly responded. Their faces contorted furiously with rage Mim had never seen before. "You brought this upon yourself. And now you shall perish for it."

They raised their ice and diamond blades over him, still in unison, as if commanded by the same marionette. As Mim screamed the monster, not even recognizable to Jack and Nightlight, only laughed more and more, their laughter hollow and broken at best.

Once he felt their blades pierce his flesh, he shot upwards out of his bed in a cold sweat. Mim’s entire body shook as he tried to get his bearings.  
“W..What the hell was that..?” Mim whispered.

Annoyed at the sensation of something stuck in his eyes, Mim tried to rub the sand out of his eyes so he could try and process everything. However, much to his horror, the sand was completely black. He recoiled in horror and tried to quickly wipe his hands clean of the substance.

“That...I just...I had a nightmare..” Mim said, unable to slow his breathing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAA its finally out!! Thank you so much for my proofreaders who assisted me in this chapter!! (Thank u to Yoda n Kat specifically)  
> Thank you guys for sticking with me for so long. I'm very happy that we finally went past The Point Of No Return for Jack. I've just been itching to get here. Hope you all enjoyed!~


End file.
